BENGALURU: Seated in the first row of the Bengaluru-Hyderabad flight was Dr Arun Mavaji, Director for Medblaze. He was travelling to attend business meetings in Hyderabad. Dr Mavaji, who got to see the lightning flash, relived the entire situation to TNIE. “Flight I5-1596 had left at the scheduled time from Bengaluru by 7.35 am and was scheduled to reach Hyderabad on time,” he recalled.
A short while later, the flight kept hovering over the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport for 15 minutes and did not land. “I saw the lightning reflect on the window. The lightning appeared to have hit the wing of the aircraft. The pilot later announced that due to congestion at the airport and low fuel, the Air Traffic Control at Hyderabad had directed the flight back to Bengaluru airport,” the doctor said. “The ordeal did not end after reaching Bengaluru at 9.55 am.
“A crew member announced that a new team would be in charge of the flight and the crew change would take an hour. We were provided with snacks and beverages. The new team announced that the aircraft had suffered damage. The crew also announced that the flight required permission from the DGCA, after an inspection, to operate. We were later told that we would fly again on a different flight,” Dr Mavaji recalled. Flyers were told to alight from the aircraft and were taken to the terminal. The hand baggage was subjected to frisking again apart from physical checks. They were taken by bus to board another aircraft nearly four hours later.