136 fly from Trichy to Mumbai on ‘open’ plane
Manju.V@timesgroup.com
Mumbai/Trichy:13.10.2018
An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 136 people on board hit a ground-based antenna and then the perimeter wall of Trichy airport during takeoff on Friday morning. Passengers had a miraculous escape as the aircraft stayed airborne for close to four hours, cruising its way to Dubai at 36,000 feet with a portion of its underbelly lacerated and exposed.
Sources said some 30-40 minutes after departure, Bengaluru’s air traffic control (ATC) was informed by its Trichy counterparts about the damaged airport wall. “It was conveyed to the pilots. Then, Mumbai ATC informed them twice too. The pilots reported that the aircraft systems were operating normally and decided to continue with the flight,” said a source. The standard operating procedure is to return to the airport as soon as possible to allow the damage to be accessed. “It was not until the Air India flight operations department asked them to divert and land in Mumbai that they turned back,” said a source.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has begun a preliminary inquiry while the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau will carry out an indepth probe. There is no cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data, though, on what transpired between the pilots during takeoff.
The eight-year-old Boeing 737 (VT-AYD) operating the Trichy-Dubai flight IX611took off at 1.18am from the 8,000-foot-long Runway 27. “It was very low and hit the localizer antenna, located about 1,000 feet beyond the runway-end,” said a source.
That is unlikely to have peeled off the aircraft’s underbelly. International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines specify that the antenna has to be fragile enough to not impact an aircraft. One of the reasons for the May 2010 AI Express Mangalore crash, which killed 158, was the B737 hit the concrete socket of the localizer antenna.
(With inputs from Vincent Arockiaraj)
EMERGENCY LANDING
Two pilots derostered after aircraft hits wall
On Friday, the aircraft then hit the upper portion of the airport perimeter wall. Mohan Ranganathan, an air safety expert said, “The aircraft should not have been less than 100 feet when overflying the antenna.” The antenna is not more than five to six feet high. “It is highly unlikely that the pilots didn’t realize that the aircraft had hit something,” he added. Post landing, the aircraft undercarriage was found to be covered with the green wire mesh installed on top of the perimeter wall.
The aircraft was at 36,000 feet over the Arabian sea about 900km west of Mumbai, in the Muscat airspace, when it was finally diverted. The Mumbai airport prepared for an emergency landing and had fire engines, ambulances on standby and the aircraft touched down safely on runway 09 at 5.30am.
An AIX spokesperson said, “Trichy airport officials observed that the aircraft might have come in contact with the airport wall. The matter was conveyed to the pilot in command, who reported the aircraft systems were operating normally. It was decided to divert to Mumbai as a precautionary measure.”
Both the pilots have been derostered pending investigation. The pilot in command has 3,600 hours of flying experience on the Boeing 737, including 500 hours as a commander and the first officer has about 3000 hours of experience on the Boeing 737, he added. A pilot can fly a maximum of 1,000 hours in a year.
One of the widely reported accidents of this kind took place on the night of March 20, 2009, when Emirates flight 407 from Melbourne to Dubai operated with an Airbus A340-500 hit several structures at the end of the runway. But within minutes it returned and carried out a safe landing at the Melbourne airport. Australian aviation officials called it, the closest they had “ever come to a major aviation catastrophe in Australia”.
Manju.V@timesgroup.com
Mumbai/Trichy:13.10.2018
An Air India Express Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 136 people on board hit a ground-based antenna and then the perimeter wall of Trichy airport during takeoff on Friday morning. Passengers had a miraculous escape as the aircraft stayed airborne for close to four hours, cruising its way to Dubai at 36,000 feet with a portion of its underbelly lacerated and exposed.
Sources said some 30-40 minutes after departure, Bengaluru’s air traffic control (ATC) was informed by its Trichy counterparts about the damaged airport wall. “It was conveyed to the pilots. Then, Mumbai ATC informed them twice too. The pilots reported that the aircraft systems were operating normally and decided to continue with the flight,” said a source. The standard operating procedure is to return to the airport as soon as possible to allow the damage to be accessed. “It was not until the Air India flight operations department asked them to divert and land in Mumbai that they turned back,” said a source.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has begun a preliminary inquiry while the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau will carry out an indepth probe. There is no cockpit voice recorder (CVR) data, though, on what transpired between the pilots during takeoff.
The eight-year-old Boeing 737 (VT-AYD) operating the Trichy-Dubai flight IX611took off at 1.18am from the 8,000-foot-long Runway 27. “It was very low and hit the localizer antenna, located about 1,000 feet beyond the runway-end,” said a source.
That is unlikely to have peeled off the aircraft’s underbelly. International Civil Aviation Organisation guidelines specify that the antenna has to be fragile enough to not impact an aircraft. One of the reasons for the May 2010 AI Express Mangalore crash, which killed 158, was the B737 hit the concrete socket of the localizer antenna.
(With inputs from Vincent Arockiaraj)
EMERGENCY LANDING
Two pilots derostered after aircraft hits wall
On Friday, the aircraft then hit the upper portion of the airport perimeter wall. Mohan Ranganathan, an air safety expert said, “The aircraft should not have been less than 100 feet when overflying the antenna.” The antenna is not more than five to six feet high. “It is highly unlikely that the pilots didn’t realize that the aircraft had hit something,” he added. Post landing, the aircraft undercarriage was found to be covered with the green wire mesh installed on top of the perimeter wall.
The aircraft was at 36,000 feet over the Arabian sea about 900km west of Mumbai, in the Muscat airspace, when it was finally diverted. The Mumbai airport prepared for an emergency landing and had fire engines, ambulances on standby and the aircraft touched down safely on runway 09 at 5.30am.
An AIX spokesperson said, “Trichy airport officials observed that the aircraft might have come in contact with the airport wall. The matter was conveyed to the pilot in command, who reported the aircraft systems were operating normally. It was decided to divert to Mumbai as a precautionary measure.”
Both the pilots have been derostered pending investigation. The pilot in command has 3,600 hours of flying experience on the Boeing 737, including 500 hours as a commander and the first officer has about 3000 hours of experience on the Boeing 737, he added. A pilot can fly a maximum of 1,000 hours in a year.
One of the widely reported accidents of this kind took place on the night of March 20, 2009, when Emirates flight 407 from Melbourne to Dubai operated with an Airbus A340-500 hit several structures at the end of the runway. But within minutes it returned and carried out a safe landing at the Melbourne airport. Australian aviation officials called it, the closest they had “ever come to a major aviation catastrophe in Australia”.
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