A Malaysian Airlines aircraft returned to New Delhi an hour after take-off and made an emergency landing on Sunday afternoon after a snag in one of its engines. The aircraft (flight MH-173 from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur) had 158 people on board, including crew members, and all on board were safe. An emergency was declared at Delhi Airport and fire-tender vehicles and ambulances were deployed in case of any eventuality, sources said.
The aircraft had taken off from New Delhi shortly after 1 pm and flew for an hour before the pilot detected a major snag in one of the engines. The pilot immediately contacted the Air Traffic Control and announced that he was returning to Delhi, following the engine trouble. At that time, the plane was flying over Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. The aircraft was then given the shortest possible air-route to reach New Delhi. Passengers were evacuated from the aircraft after it landed safely at New Delhi shortly after 3 pm. Meanwhile, the DGCA has issued a circular stipulating that the maximum permissible noise level of aircraft operating from the IGI airport is 105 db(A) (decibel-A-weighted) during “daytime” while it is 95 db(A) for (night time). Daytime refers to the time-period from 6 am to 10 pm while night-time refers to the time-period from 10 pm to 6 am.