The tyres of Air India's Dubai-bound express plane, a Boeing B737-800, hit the compound wall of Tamil Nadu's Trichy International airport, damaging its fuselage. The incident occurred during the take-off at around 1:19 am on Friday.
Unaware of the damage the pilot of the aircraft said that "all systems were functioning normally", but as a precaution, the plane with 130 passengers, was diverted to Mumbai, NDTV reports. Preliminary probe has shown that the damage to the body of the plane was extensive.
The pilot and the co-pilot have reportedly been taken off from the roster and an investigation has been launched, NDTV reports.
A portion of the west side wall, the antenna and the instrument landing system (ILS) were damaged in the incident.
Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau officers and DGCA officers are deputed at the site for the preliminary inquiry, said the Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu.
A sub-committee has been formed by an Independent Director of the Board for examining all the safety issues within the organisation including subsidiaries.
According to sources, Vellamandi N Natarajan tourism minister of Tamil Nadu visited the airport to monitor the situation.
Suresh Prabhu tweeted that he has directed a high-level inquiry into the accident.
"Safety of the passengers is of paramount importance for us. We will take all that's required to put the safety on top of aviation agenda. Growth can't be at the expense of safety." said Prabhu
Here is Suresh Prabhu's tweet.
In order to have continuous attention towards air safety, I have also ordered concerned officials to put in place a regular "safety compliance report" of all airlines.
— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) October 12, 2018
