IndiGo aircraft grounded in Patna likely to be ready tomorrow

Mangalore Today News Network

July 08, 2017: Grounded IndiGo Airbus 320 is likely to be ready by Sunday, as the airline initiated repairs on Friday, following an engine failure on June 30.

 

The repairs began after the airlines ferried a new engine from its base in New Delhi via road.

A turbine blade of its engine had cracked, stalling the left engine as the aircraft was on take-off run. With the aircraft having completed one-third distance of the 2072-metre runway, pilots had to apply emergency brakes and called for emergency evacuation. As many as 174 passengers had a lucky escape.

“We expect the engine to be replaced by Sunday. We will then seek DGCA clearance before getting the aircraft back in commercial operations,” said an airline official, who requested anonymity.

The aircraft, grounded since the incident, has been parked on bay number 3. This has led to occasional congestion, as the effective number of parking bays at the Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport had reduced from five to three to cater to 66 commercial aircraft movement of 33 scheduled flights in a day. Parking bay 2 is earmarked for smaller chartered aircraft like Dornier, given the severe space limitation.

“All commercial flights, which are either Boeing 737 or Airbus 320, are now operating from bays 1, 4 and 5. This occasionally leads to congestion when there is clubbing of flights and air traffic controllers have to hold some flights on taxiway, before allowing them to take-off. We are still managing it well,” airport director Rajender Singh Lahauria told HT.

French aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will conduct an independent audit into the engine failure of the aircraft.

DGCA director (air safety) Maneesh Kumar could not be reached for comments. While his cellphone, listed on the DGCA website, was switched off, he did not respond to HT’s text message or detailed email sent to him, soliciting his comments on May 5.

Courtesy: Hindustantimes