NEW DELHI: The inability of the Aerodrome Meteorological Office to alert the Air Traffic Control (ATC) of Terminal 2 of a sudden weather change and one of IndiGo's unlocked trolley step ladder are seen as possible reasons behind the “rarest of rare” accidents at Delhi airport on Sunday evening, multiple sources revealed.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has begun a probe into the mishap in which three stationary narrow-body Air India aircraft parked near Terminal 2 were damaged and have been grounded.
One A320 aircraft suffered major damages to its body and the portion below one wing after an IndiGo trolley rolled towards it at high speed and rammed into it while two other aircraft sustained minor damage when other ground equipment hit them.
Apart from Indigo's step ladder, two trestles — a raised platform used to reach different parts of an aircraft for maintenance — one belonging to IndiGo and one belonging to the government- owned AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), were involved in the mishap.
A short video clip of the incident, which went viral on Monday, showed ground handling staff taking shelter during a sudden heavy downpour. Moments later, one of them noticed a huge trolley moving rapidly on its own. It crossed one aircraft and a small vehicle before racing ahead. This individual and two ground handling staff members were seen running behind it in an attempt to stop it, but failed before it rammed into the Air India aircraft.
The DGCA said in a statement, "Due to strong winds, two ground equipment positioned atadjacent stands and in nearby areas moved from their locations and hit two different aircraft at various positions causing damage. In addition, the right-hand sliding window of another aircraft sustained damage due to Foreign Object debris impact." All three aircraft have been grounded for inspection and maintenance, it added.
Air India refused to share details regarding the damage and played it down. “All our planes will be back in action within a few days,” the airline said. IndiGo sources claimed on Monday that its staff had secured the trolley but the strong wind loosened it forcing it to move. On Sunday, however, the airline had claimed that the step ladder never hit the aircraft and that its staff had stopped it.
Meanwhile, the airport weather office failed to convey the sudden weather change to the ATC on time. A senior official said, “A microburst had occurred. Wind speeds touched nearly 100 kmph and a squall lasted for around three minutes. We were informing the ATC which informs different airlines and we were updating the system so everyone could access it. By then, the squall had already struck and gone."
Sources said that had the weather office alerted the ATC in time, the aircraft and surface equipment could have been shifted immediately from the parking spot.