Bengaluru: Nine days after a ‘Mayday’ call was followed by one of the deadliest disasters in Indian civil aviation history, another pilot sent out the message of distress from mid-air in Indian skies.
Fortunately, a catastrophe was avoided this time, unlike the fate of Air India flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad.
An IndiGo flight, travelling from Guwahati to Chennai, had to make an emergency landing at Bengaluru airport on Thursday night after the pilot sent out a ‘Mayday’ call to the air traffic control (ATC) because of insufficient fuel in the plane.
Flight 6E-6764, which had departed Guwahati airport at 4.45 pm, was carrying 168 persons.
According to a report in Times of India, the pilot of flight 6E-6764 attempted to land in Chennai around 7.45 pm, but then decided to “go around” after the landing gear touched the runway, in what is called ‘balked landing’.
Instead of attempting a second landing in Chennai, the pilot decided to take the plane to Bengaluru, ATC sources informed.
The captain then sent out a ‘Mayday’ call, about 35 miles away from Bengaluru airport, a source told ToI.
The situation appeared to be that of an ‘unstabilised approach’. A passenger was quoted as saying that the sudden and steep climb scared many on board and pushed them to the edge of their seats.
The flight ultimately landed safely in Bengaluru at 8.20 pm.
“After getting the distress call, the ATC alerted the on-ground staff members, who swung into action. Medical and fire services personnel were in place. The aircraft landed safely at 8.20 pm,” an official at Bengaluru airport said.
Painful memories of the June 12 Ahmedabad crash are very fresh in everyone’s minds. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, on way to London Gatwick, crashed into a hostel building of BJ Medical College within 32 seconds of take-off from the airport. As many as 241 of the 242 people on board, along with 30 persons on the ground, lost their lives in the devastating accident.
