NEW DELHI: Passengers of Air India flight had a harrowing time on Monday. In two separate incidents, Air India Airbus A320 flight number AI 405 from Varanasi made an emergency landing at Delhi Indira Gandhi International airport due to hydraulic failure, secondly Delhi-Bagdogra flight number AI 879, suffered a tyre burst while taking off .
In the flight which landed from Varanasi at 9 pm pilot noticed fire mid-air and asked for emergency landing, said sources. Around 130 people were on board this Airbus.
“Initially it was not clear if fire was caught mid-air or during landing at the airport but
after the plane touched down smoke was seen from under carriage and pilot opted for evacuation,” airport sources said.As a result, the airport's main runway remained shut for a brief period.
“Eight people have suffered minor injures in the incident” said DCP D.K. Gupta airport authority .
In the second incident Air India flight from Delhi to Bagdogra a tyre burst was detected in the aircraft and subsequently it landed back at Delhi airport at around 11:50 am.Fire tenders were positioned near the runway and medical aid facilities were also kept on stand by.
“The flight had a safe landing at 12.20 pm at the airport," an Air India spokesperson said.
After the aircraft landed, it was towed away to a parking bay and thoroughly checked.
However, as the aircraft was being towed away from the runway 29, the airport's main runway, it had to be closed for operations for about 20 minutes.
In a similar incident early on Monday, another tyre burst was detected in an international flight from Istanbul that had landed at Delhi airport's runway 27. On closer inspection, it was found that one of the tyres of the aircraft had developed cracks.