“Pilot detected a suspected technical difficulty,” Air India mentioned in an announcement on Monday after its flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi was diverted to Chennai on Sunday night.
In keeping with the Air India Spokesperson, the flight was diverted to Chennai as a “precautionary measure” and in view of the climate situations en path to Delhi. “It was determined to divert to Chennai as a substitute of Bengaluru because the climate in Chennai was clear.”
‘No emergency was declared’: Air India
Air India additionally clarified that the pilot needed to maintain over Chennai “to cut back weight” because the plane was obese for an instantaneous touchdown.
“No emergency was declared,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The airline defined that in the course of the first touchdown strategy, the Air Site visitors Controller (ATC) requested the pilots to provoke a go-around as one other plane that had taken off from the identical runway had reported a suspected international object particles (FOD) on the runway.
“After following a normal go-around, the flight made a traditional and secure touchdown,” it added.
‘Our crew are effectively skilled’
Air India reiterates that the choice to divert to Chennai was taken in one of the best curiosity of the protection of its passengers and crew.
“Our crew are effectively skilled to deal with such conditions, and on this case, they adopted the protocols throughout all the flight,” they mentioned.
The airline additionally assured that every one the affected passengers have been accommodated on alternate flights to Delhi, and apologised for the inconvenience brought on by the diversion and consequent delay
“The mentioned plane has additionally resumed industrial operations,” Air India Spokesperson added.
What did DGCA say?
Aviation watchdog the Directorate Basic of Civil Aviation (DGCA) mentioned the flight was diverted attributable to a suspected malfunction of the plane’s climate radar.
“Crew noticed that the climate data depicted on the climate RADAR was not correct, suspecting climate RADAR malfunction diverted to Chennai,” the regulator mentioned and added that in engineering inspection, no deficiency was noticed, however as a precautionary measure, “WX radar transreceiver was changed with a serviceable one.”
The DGCA, in an announcement, mentioned that the plane, with clearance from the ATC, orbited 25 nautical miles northeast of Chennai for 43 minutes from 21:25 to 22:08 hours to keep away from an obese touchdown and burn further gasoline.
“After the plane was cleared for strategy Runway 25 at Chennai, at 22:19 plane was instructed to hold out a missed strategy by ATC as departing Gulf Air flight GFA053 (Chennai-Bahrain) reported particles on left facet of runway. Apron management carried out inspection of the runway and nothing was noticed.
“Plane was given touchdown clearance and plane landed safely at 22:39 IST,” the watchdog mentioned.
Political uproar over flight diversion
Senior Congress chief Okay C Venugopal, who was on the Air India flight that diverted to Chennai, claimed the flight got here “frighteningly near tragedy”.
Venugopal, who can also be the Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee and a former Minister of State for Civil Aviation, mentioned, “For almost two hours, we circled the airport awaiting clearance to land, till a heart-stopping second throughout our first try — one other plane was reportedly on the identical runway. In that cut up second, the Captain’s fast choice to tug up saved each life on board. The flight landed safely on the second try.”
In his X put up, the politician mentioned, “we have been saved by ability and luck” and that passenger security can’t rely upon luck.
“I urge @DGCAIndia and @MoCA_GoI to analyze this incident urgently, repair accountability, and guarantee such lapses by no means occur once more,” he added.
It sparked a political uproar, with BJP IT Division Head Amit Malviya on Monday saying that if Venugopal claims an Air India flight needed to abort touchdown in Chennai as a result of one other plane was on the runway and the airline instantly contradicts him, then one in every of them is misrepresenting info.
Tagging Air India’s reply to Venugopal’s put up, by which the airline mentioned the diversion was precautionary, Malviya mentioned that is extraordinarily critical.
“If senior Congress chief KC Venugopal claims an Air India flight needed to abort touchdown in Chennai as a result of one other plane was on the runway and the airline instantly contradicts him, then one in every of them is misrepresenting info.”
“Aviation security is paramount, and social media posts from supposedly accountable folks can’t go unscrutinised. If the allegation is true, Chennai ATC and Air India have a lot to reply for. If not, Mr Venugopal ought to face penalties, together with being placed on a no-fly checklist for spreading falsehoods,” Malviya mentioned in his put up.
