Hyderabad: A possible disaster was averted after the pilots of an Air India flight from Hyderabad to Mumbai detected a technical snag in the aircraft, even while preparing for take-off at 2 pm on Friday.
The aircraft was already moving on the runway of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport when the pilots decided to call off the flight. The 97 passengers on board were accommodated on another flight shortly afterwards.
“Pilots have become extra cautious after the Ahmedabad tragedy. In this case, flight AI 2534 was taxiing down the runway when the pilots detected the glitch. They immediately brought the aircraft to a stop and informed the ATC. This may have saved the lives of several passengers,” an official said.
According to an expert, pilots have to be very alert before the aircraft reaches a certain speed (during take-off) known as V1, as this is the only time they will get to abort. Once V1 speed is reached, the pilots will have to take-off, come what may.
“After the pilots aborted the take-off, the aircraft returned to the bay. The Air India team took swift action and booked the passengers on flight AI 2445 that was scheduled to take-off at 2.30 pm. This aircraft took off at 3.05 pm without further incident. There were 148 passengers on board,” the official added.
Flight AI 2534 was declared AOG (Aircraft On Ground). Air India has initiated a probe to find out what went wrong.
Passengers later said that they were already a bit tense due to the Ahmedabad air crash that claimed the lives of 229 passengers and 12 crew members on June 12. The technical glitch only made matters worse. However, their flight to Mumbai was finally uneventful.
Air India has announced plans to cut 38 international flights per week between June 21 and July 15 and suspend services on three foreign routes. Additional checks on aircraft as per DGCA instructions is one of the reasons.
