Shortly after the Mangalore air-crash, another air-scare was witnessed in the country at the New Delhi IGI airport on Monday afternoon when a SpiceJet flight had to return to the airport for an emergency landing after take-off following a tyre-burst. SpiceJet as well as sources in the Airports Authority of India (AAI) confirmed that the right rear inner wheel of the aircraft got deflated, apparently during take-off. A probe has been ordered.
“A few tyre pieces were found on the runway after flight SG-224 (Delhi-Srinagar) departed. Keeping the safety of passengers in mind, the aircraft returned to Delhi as a precaution. The aircraft landed (back) safely in Delhi at 2.40 pm and all passengers are safe,” the airline stated. Emergency was declared at the airport at 1.18 pm.
Soon after the SpiceJet aircraft took off, the pilot of another aircraft of a private airline that landed, spotted the tyre pieces on the runway and immediately alerted the air traffic control (ATC). The ATC then alerted the pilot of the SpiceJet flight who decided to return. ATC sources said that the pilot of the SpiceJet aircraft then dumped fuel mid-air — as is the procedure before emergency landings to make the aircraft lighter — and returned to the airport. Before landing, the pilot did a “low pass” wherein the aircraft flew at a low altitude first over the IGI airport so that aircraft maintenance engineers could see if any of the tyres was deflated.
The aircraft then eventually landed safely at the airport.
In a statement, DIAL, the operator of the New Delhi IGI airport, said, “Today afternoon, SpiceJet (SG-224) flight — from Delhi to Srinagar — had to come back due to a suspected tyre burst as informed by ATC. Emergency was declared at 1.18 pm. The aircraft landed safely at 2.36 pm on Runway 11 (third runway) with 195 passengers on board (including crew). In accordance with the laid-down emergency procedures, DIAL positioned Aircraft Crash Fire Tenders (ACFT), and an ambulance besides providing a “Follow-me” vehicle to lead the aircraft till the parking stand after its landing. DIAL also carried out a runway inspection. All passengers were shifted to another aircraft for the journey to Srinagar. The ‘emergency’ was terminated at 3.35 pm.”
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Search for black box is still on
Age Correspondent
New Delh
May 24: The government is likely to appoint the Court of Inquiry into the Mangalore air-crash either on Tuesday or Wednesday, even as the search for the orange-coloured digital flight data recorder (that is commonly referred to as the black box) was still on at the crash site of the ill-fated Air India Express at Mangalore till Monday evening.
“Despite all efforts, the black box has not yet been recovered. The director general of civil aviation, Mr Naseem Zaidi, and other officials are still at Mangalore,” senior ministry sources said on Monday evening. Sources said the ministry would wait for the DGCA to return to New Delhi before announcing the Court of Inquiry. The Court of Inquiry will be assisted by the DGCA in its investigations. The DGCA has already begun its probe into the incident.
Meanwhile, the crucial devices of the crashed aircraft, including the Cockpit Voice Recorder, were brought to New Delhi on Monday night, reported PTI.