The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport on Monday witnessed tense moments when an Air India Express (AIE) flight made a landing in emergency conditions and another AIE flight aborted take-off halfway following technical issues. The airport declared a full emergency when the AIE flight (IX 613) from Tiruchirapalli bound for Sharjah was diverted to the State capital due to suspected malfunctioning of the landing gear.
When the airport was making preparations for the precautionary landing of the Sharjah-bound aircraft, another AIE flight (IX 573) that began accelerating down the runway aborted take-off after the pilot reportedly noticed damage to the tyre attached to the landing wheel. The airport sources said that the aborted flight taxied to the bay before the landing of the diverted flight. The second flight with 154 passengers and six crew members landed safely by 12 p.m., while the aborted flight had 168 passengers and six crew onboard.
According to sources, the Sharjah-bound flight has made a ‘precautionary landing’, not an ‘emergency landing’. During an emergency landing, the pilot will declare the distress call ‘MAY day’ – indicating a life-threatening emergency– before making the landing. The precautionary landing was made following technical issues with the landing gear display unit.
The engineering wing of the airline inspected the landed aircraft and both the aircraft departed – IX 573 for Bahrain by 5.20 p.m. and IX 613 by 6.40 p.m. with passengers after fixing the issues. The passengers on both aircraft were facilitated at the stay hold area at the international terminal. The airline regretted the inconvenience caused to the passengers on board.
