With a speed of over 222 kilometres per hour, an Air India aircraft was forced to carry out a premature and emergency takeoff to avoid hitting a person and a jeep that had suddenly come on the Pune airport runway.
The incident happened on Saturday (February 15) morning when the pilot of the disinvestment-bound Air India had to lift the A321 aircraft in a hurry, which resulted in a tail-strike incident, damaging the fuselage.
However, the plane landed at the Delhi airport safely despite the incident.
An official of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated, "During take-off roll while at 120 knots speed, the crew saw a jeep and a person on the runway, to avoid conflict they did an early rotation. The aircraft has safely landed at Delhi."
DGCA orders probe
The DGCA has ordered a probe into an incident involving tail scraping of an Air India plane being operated from Pune to Delhi.
Air India has been advised to remove the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) for its analysis, the DGCA official stated.
Another DGCA official aware of the preliminary investigation into the incident told news agency PTI, "The aircraft has been withdrawn from service for investigation. Air India has been advised to coordinate with Pune ATC (air traffic control) also to find out any marking on the runway."
On asking about the Air India incident, the carrier's spokesperson said, "The A321 aircraft that was scheduled to operate AI 825 to Srinagar was observed to have certain marks towards the empennage area. This aircraft had arrived from Pune on AI 852."
"The aircraft has been withdrawn for detailed investigation. The CVR and SSFDR (solid-state flight data recorder) readouts would be carried out and the findings shared appropriately," the spokesperson said."
Security on the runway
Airport security has always been a high priority. However, the perimeter surrounding the airport is still, in too many cases, neglected. The Pune Air Traffic Control, which is operated by the Indian Air Force, should be answerable to two things:
- Why the runway was not secure?
- Why did ATC not observe tail strike and recall the Delhi-bound aircraft?
