Delhi-bound AI Flight Carrying MPs Gets Diverted to Chennai After Snag
Air India said the flight landed safely in Chennai, where the aircraft will undergo the necessary checks
New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said the Air India Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi flight carrying Members of Parliament was diverted to Chennai on Sunday due to weather radar issue. However, at Chennai it had to abort landing at the last minute as the pilot of the previous flight that took off had reported suspected debris on the runway. Air India said its crew followed set protocol and its pilots are well-trained to handle such situations.
Congress MP Mr K.C. Venugopal was on board flight AI 2455 that departed with a delay of 49 minutes from Thiruvananthapuram. Mr Venugopal claimed the flight came "frighteningly close to tragedy" and urged the DGCA and Civil Aviation ministry to investigate.
Following the examination of the incident, the DGCA said Air India A320 aircraft VT-TNL was scheduled to operate flight AI2455 (Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi) with scheduled time of departure as 19:15 IST. However, due to late arrival of aircraft from Delhi because of weather issues the aircraft departed at 20:04 IST i.e. with a total delay of 49 minutes.
During flight the aircraft encountered moderate turbulent conditions. Crew observed that the weather information depicted on the weather RADAR was not accurate, suspecting weather RADAR malfunction diverted to Chennai.
“To avoid overweight landing and burn extra fuel, the aircraft with the ATC clearance orbited 25NM northeast of Chennai for 43 minutes (from 21:25IST to 22:08IST). After the aircraft was cleared for approach Runway 25 at Chennai, at 2219IST aircraft was instructed to carry out a missed approach by ATC as departing Gulf Air flight GFA053 (Chennai-Bahrain) reported debris on left side of runway. Apron control carried out inspection of the runway and nothing was observed. Aircraft was given landing clearance and aircraft landed safely at 22:39 IST. During engineering inspection no deficiency was observed. However, as a precautionary measure, WX radar transreceiver was replaced with a serviceable one,” DGCA said.
"What began as a delayed departure turned into a harrowing journey. Shortly after take-off, we were hit by unprecedented turbulence. About an hour later, the Captain announced a flight signal fault and diverted to Chennai...For nearly two hours, we circled the airport awaiting clearance to land, until a heart-stopping moment during our first attempt -- another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway. In that split second, the Captain's quick decision to pull up saved every life on board. The flight landed safely on the second attempt," wrote Mr Venugopal, also the Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee and a former Minister of State for Civil Aviation, on X.
Air India said the crew followed the protocols and the first landing attempt had to be aborted due to suspected foreign debris presence on the runway. The decision to divert the flight to Chennai was a precautionary measure and was taken in the best interest of the safety of passengers and crew due to a suspected technical issue. The flight was not diverted to Bengaluru as the weather in Chennai was clear, the airline said.
"…After following a standard go-around, the flight made a normal and safe landing...Our crew are well trained to handle such situations, and in this case, they followed the protocols during the entire flight. All the affected passengers were accommodated on alternate flights to Delhi and the said aircraft has also resumed commercial operations,” Air India spokesperson said.
