The Hindu : Front Page : A-I flight to London makes emergency landing in Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 01, 2005

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A-I flight to London makes emergency landing in Delhi

NEW DELHI: An Air India Boeing 747 aircraft carrying 315 passengers and crew from Mumbai to London made a safe landing amidst full emergency at the Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi late on Sunday night after the pilot detected a technical problem while overflying Karachi two hours after taking off from Mumbai.

According to the Air India spokesman, Jitendra Bhargava, the plane took off from Mumbai at 6.30 p.m. and it was at 8.30 p.m. that the pilot reported to Mumbai airport about the technical problem.

The pilot was advised to land at the nearest airport in Delhi for a check-up of the plane's problem, Mr. Bhargava said.

A full emergency was declared at the Delhi airport with deployment of fire tenders and other paraphernalia before the plane landed safely at around 10.45 p.m., according to the Airport Director, V.K. Arora.

Mr. Arora and Mr. Bhargava said the pilot reported a problem of the plane's ``flap drive''.

Mr. Bhargava said engineers are attending to the technical problem of the aircraft and only then would a decision be taken about its flight-worthiness.

Mr. Arora said fire tenders and ambulances were deployed for the landing of the aircraft as per the normal drill in such a situation.

The Union Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, said the plane landed in Delhi because of rains in Mumbai.

``The pilot took precautionary measure as the flight was a long haul one. It is a routine thing that if a technical snag is noticed, such precautionary measures need to be taken,'' he said. --PTI

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