As aircraft makes emergency landing in Delhi, officials pass the blame
As aircraft makes emergency landing in Delhi, officials pass the blame
Most would agree that changing a flat tyre is an art. Things get trickier when the vehicle is in the air, and lives are at stake. All you can hope for is a little bit of luck. Within three days of one of the biggest air tragedies in the country, another one was averted as a Srinagar-bound SpiceJet aircraft with 186 passengers on board landed under emergency conditions at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. The reason - a tyre burst.
Miraculous escape: The SpiceJet aircraft after emergency landing at
Delhi Airport on Monday. PIC/MID DAY
Several inquiries have been ordered. Speaking to MiD DAY, airport and SpiceJet officials said on condition of anonymity that it might not be correct to blame the pilot as he was not in a position to detect the burst tyre. "It was neither an internal error nor a technical glitch. It was a unique case where the tyre burst just when the aircraft was leaving the runway," said an airport official. He however added that airport ground staff should have noticed the pieces of tyre on the runway after the plane had taken off.
"It is the responsibility of the ground staff to keep the runway clear of any unwanted material and they should have noted the pieces of tyre," he said.
But the 186 precious lives were saved only by sheer good fortune as just after the SpiceJet flight SG 224 took off, another civil aircraft landed on the same runway. The pilot of this plane noticed the tyre pieces and immediately alerted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) which raised an alarm. "No one had any idea about which aircraft had a flat tyre. It was a tricky situation where a plane was up in the air in a condition that could prove fatal during landing, especially without any emergency support," said another official.
But as soon as the aircraft was detected, full emergency was declared at the airport and fire tenders and ambulances were called in.u00a0 A SpiceJet spokesperson informed that after the plane that had travelled about 100 miles, turned around and made a successful landing, all the passengers were shifted to another flight which took off at about 4:30 pm.
Experts say that temperature on the runway could be a possible culprit as the mercury crossed 45 degrees at the airport on Monday.
Special permission was secured at the Srinagar airport for the special flight as no landing is allowed there after 4:30 pm. While the same pilot was at the helm, the crew was changed.
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