Indigo flight tyre burst: French expert team to visit Karnataka's Hubballi

It was said due to bad weather following high wind and rain, the craft in its second attempt, landed in the airport and suffered a tyre burst while landing.
For representational purposes (Photo | PTI)
For representational purposes (Photo | PTI)

HUBBALLI: A technical team from France will visit Hubballi to check the Indigo ATR operating 6E-7979 flight that suffered a tyre burst recently while landing in Hubballi. After the inspection from the technical team, only the aircraft will fly back from Hubballi.

On June 14 late evening, the Kannur-Hubballi flight experienced a double nose gear tyre burst while landing at Hubballi Airport. There were five passengers and four crew members in the flight and luckily no one suffered any injuries in the incident. It was said due to bad weather following high wind and rain, the craft in its second attempt, landed in the airport and suffered a tyre burst while landing.

Following the incident, the runway was blocked for nearly 12 hours to remove busted tyre parts. Except for some scratches, there is no major damage to the runway. The next day, the Indigo technical team arrived from Bengaluru for the maintenance of the craft and initiated repair works.

The exact reason for the burst is yet to be declared by the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA), who has initiated an investigation into the incident. Recently officials from DGCA have visited Hubballi and inspected the craft and took stock of air traffic control (ATC) in Hubballi Airport, and they have yet to report on the tyre burst.

According to sources, the inquiry has been initiated and the technical team will find out the burst was due to wind and bad weather or it was the fault of the captain or any technical issue in the flight. Therefore a technical team from the craft manufacturing unit will visit Hubballi by this month-end.

"ATR flight manufacturing company is based in France and a technical team will be coming from France to rectify the fault. Until then the craft will be in Hubballi Airport. Due to restrictions on international flight movement, the team from France will be visiting India on June 26-27 and they will visit Hubballi," he added.

Confirming the visit of DGCA officials to Hubballi, Airport director Pramod Kumar Thakre said the investigation is on and the team has assessed the damage and they will give a final report. "From the airport side, the runway, ATC and everything were fine on the day of the tyre burst incident. Even the pilot had not reported any issue while landing," he added.

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