CHANDIGARH: An aircraft carrying over 44 passengers including Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and State Director General of Police Atul Verma from Delhi to Shimla missed the landing spot at Jubbarhatti Airport at Shimla.
It was reported that on the morning of March 24, due to a technical glitch with the brakes, the pilot had to apply emergency brakes avoiding a major disaster.
Sources said that the pilot of flight number 9I821 of Alliance Air from Delhi to Shimla reported the glitch during landing as it nearly overshot the runway before coming to a halt.
The pilots struggled to decelerate after touchdown, forcing them to apply emergency brakes at the last moment.
The airline crew had alerted passengers about the technical issue before applying the emergency brakes. The plane ATR-42 aircraft has been grounded for inspection to check the issue. The flight had taken off from Delhi after routine checks and engineers are inspecting the aircraft to determine if there was a technical glitch.
The aircraft did not veer off the runway preventing what could have been a serious disaster. However, the impact of the abrupt landing caused one of the plane’s tyres to burst.
In the wake of the incident, the local airport authorities decided to cancel the next scheduled flight to Dharamshala as a precautionary measure, said sources.
As per eyewitnesses, the aircraft crossed the runway and hit the studs on the edge of the airstrip.
Later Agnihotri said, "The runway is small and we cannot deny this fact. As a layman, I can say that while landing, the plane did not touch the ground where it was supposed to and came to the end of the airstrip as there was some technical issue while landing.’’
The reason behind the aircraft’s partial runway landing remains unclear, and technical teams are currently investigating possible mechanical faults.
An official said that the plane took off from Delhi after a routine inspection, and no issues were reported during the flight. "The engineers are now inspecting the aircraft to determine the cause of the fault while landing,’’ he added.
Superintendent of Police of Shimla Sanjeev Gandhi said that the accelerator of the plane had malfunctioned, making it difficult for the pilots to slow down after landing.
Meanwhile, Alliance Air has cancelled three flights on the route for safety inspections. The ATR-42 aircraft operates daily between Delhi, Shimla, and Dharamshala.