runwayMumbai, Nov 14 (PTI) Nearly 160 passengers and crew onboard a Hyderabad-bound IndiGo flight from Visakhapatnam had anarrow escape when a wild boar strayed on the runway and cameunder the aircraft while it was in the last stage of taxiing.
As the pilot could not have rejected the take off at thattime, he was forced to get the aircraft airborne but landedback shortly to assess any possible damage to the Airbus planeas a precaution, IndiGo said in a statement today.
After all the required checks and inspections werecarried out by the engineering team, the aircraft resumed itsjourney, albeit with a delay of one-and-a-half hours, theairline said.
There were 159 passengers and crew on board the plane.
The incident, which took place on Sunday, has beenreported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
"The IndiGo flight 6E-742 from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabadstruck a wandering wild boar on the runway during take-off. Asper the standard operating procedures, the captain immediatelyreported the matter to the Air Traffic Control and decided tohold over Vizag," the airline said in the statement.
After 45 minutes, the pilot carried out a precautionarylanding back at the Vizag airport to get the necessaryinspections done, it said.
While all this led to a delay of one-and-a-half hours,"we ensured customer safety at all times," IndiGo said.
The Gurgaon-based airline also said that it has raisedthe issue of birds and wildlife endangering the safety of thepassengers as well as the flight operations, with theVisakhapatnam airport authorities. PTI IAS GKDV.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.