Landing gear fails to deploy, aircraft made to circle round

Landing gear fails to deploy, aircraft made to circle round

Niyati.Parikh@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad:28.08.2021

Handling a flight arrival is pretty much a routine procedure at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport. However, the arrival of a Dehradun-Ahmedabad flight kept airport ground staff, Air Traffic Controller (ATC) and other officials on tense vigil on Friday afternoon at the city airport. The wheel of the Q400 aircraft operated by SpiceJet did not extend, minutes before landing, after which the pilot raised an alert.

“SpiceJet Q400 aircraft operated SG-3762 (Dehradun-Ahmedabad) on August 27. On approach, when the landing gear was selected down, it failed to extend. Go around was initiated and ATC was apprised about the same,” said a SpiceJet spokesperson confirming the incident.

“Just before the flight was on the verge of landing at the city airport, the pilot suspected a technical snag in the operation of the aircraft and raised an alert. The flight circled around mid-air before finally landing,” said a well-placed source.

“On subsequent approach, the aircraft landed safely,” the SpiceJet Spokesperson, further added.

The Q-400 aircraft can carry a maximum of 90 passengers. TOI could not independently confirm how many passengers were aboard the flight.

Airport officials and airline ground staffers breathed a sigh of relief as the flight landed safely. The flight was delayed by some 30 minutes overall due to the technical issue.

Besides this, four flights to Amritsar, Goa, Pune and Jaipur, were delayed from the city airport on Friday due to operational constraints. These flights departed late by 30-180 minutes. Also, a Chennai-bound flight was cancelled due to operational constraints.

City airport on high alert

Ahmedabad:

The high alert at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport has been extended till further notice. The city airport was put on a high alert since August 6 and it was issued in the run up to Independence Day as part of routine protocol. Usually, the high alert remains tentatively a week before and after Independence Day. However, as a precautionary measure, the high alert will remain at the city airport till further notice, confirmed sources.

A top source privy to the development said that it has been extended in the wake of the recent incident of bomb threat mail received at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi. TNN