An Air India flight going to Dubai from Trichy was badly damaged after hitting a perimeter wall while taking off from Trichy Airport in early hours of Friday (12 October). The airport officials conveyed the matter to the pilot and the flight was then diverted to Mumbai airport. All 130 passengers and 6 crew members on the aircraft are safe and no injury was reported. According to a statement released by Air India, the flight IX 611 took off for Dubai from Trichy at 1.30 am after which the airport official reported that aircraft could have come in contact with the perimeter wall. The officials then conveyed the matter to the pilot in command who reported that all the systems on the plane are operating normally.<doc-sep>An internal inquiry has been set up by Air India Express after their Dubai-bound flight from Trichy, with 136 passengers on board, hit the Air Traffic Control (ATC) compound wall on Thursday at the Trichy Airport. Trichy: An internal inquiry has been set up by Air India Express after their Dubai-bound flight from Trichy, with 136 passengers on board, hit the Air Traffic Control (ATC) compound wall on Thursday at the Trichy Airport, and was subsequently diverted to Mumbai. After the incident, an internal inquiry has been set up. The pilot and co-pilot have been de-rostered till completion of the investigation. Furthermore, Air India Express has informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about the matter. An Air India Express official said, "All passengers were landed safely at Mumbai airport and another aircraft from Mumbai to Dubai was arranged." Tamil Nadu Tourism Minister Vellamandi N Natarajan who assessed the spot said, "The flight with its passengers has reached Mumbai safely. The airport authorities are assessing the situation here. All necessary action to bring back normalcy will be taken."<doc-sep>More than 130 passengers and crew on board an Air India flight to Dubai had a miraculous escape on Friday when the plane brushed against a 50-feet-high perimeter wall during takeoff from Trichy in Tamil Nadu and flew in a damaged condition for four hours, turning around finally to land in Mumbai. The underside of the aircraft suffered severe damage when it hit the wall, after one of its tyres first struck equipment used to guide a pilot to land a flight. An expert aware of the extent of the damage said a catastrophe may have resulted had the plane flown on any longer. The entire duration of the flight, including the detour to Mumbai, was four hours. The Boeing 737 had 130 passengers and six crew members on board. Passengers inside the aircraft were jolted and panicked as the aircraft shook and tossed about, PTI reported from Trichy. The passengers were quietened by assurances by crew that there was nothing to worry about, and the flight proceeded, it said. “After flight IX611 from Trichy to Dubai took off, it was reported by local airport officials that the aircraft might have come in contact with the perimeter wall. The matter was conveyed to the pilot in command, who reported that aircraft systems were operating normally,” said a spokesperson for Air India Express, the flight’s operator, a subsidiary of national carrier Air India. The aircraft was then diverted to Mumbai. A Boeing 737 takes off at a speed of 250-290 kilometers per hour, depending on its passenger and fuel load, serving as an indication of the velocity it was travelling at when it brushed against the perimeter wall at Tiruchirappalli International Airport. According to information from flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the plane had reached its cruising altitude of 36,000 feet and had completed more than half the crossing of the Arabian Sea when it turned around towards Mumbai. The plane was flying at roughly 826 kmph – the typical cruising speed for commercial airliners. “More parts of the aircraft could have come off had it continued to cruise for a bit longer, endangering the lives of passengers,” said VK Kukar, a former Air India Pilot. The pilot and the co-pilot have been taken off duty till an investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aviation regulator, is completed. Kukar said pilots in such a situation may not necessarily feel the impact or receive a warning from the instrumentation of the plane brushing against or hitting an object. The alertness of airport workers becomes crucial in such cases. Trichy airport workers found that a part of the perimeter wall had collapsed and antennas for the Instrument Landing System (ILS) broken. The ILS is a crucial system of sensors and transmitters that are installed in aircraft and at runways which helps planes line up and land, easily the most challenging part of a flight. Once the ground damage was spotted, air traffic control passed on the message to counterparts in Mumbai as flight IX611 had by then entered the Mumbai airspace. It was then that a message to turn around was relayed to the crew. “The aircraft was in constant touch with us when it was in our airspace. The pilot was asked to make an emergency landing as a precautionary measure,” a Mumbai Air Traffic Control (ATC) official said. Kukar said the damage could have been limited to the outer layer. “The pilots would otherwise have gotten warnings if there was any problem in closing the landing gear and putting it back. There have been some incidents globally where planes have flown with a damaged underbelly,” he said. The risk of fire was low because fuel is stored in the wings, he explained. Friday’s incident comes exactly three weeks after 30 people on a Jet Airways flight were left with injuries following a sudden drop in cabin pressure. The incident apparently took place because the pilots forgot to activate key systems needed to pressurise the cabin. A member of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said the manufacturer, Boeing, will be called for an investigation into Friday’s incident and, since it is the first of its kind in India, appropriate safety instructions will be issued once the inquiry is completed. Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu said that he had spoken to senior officials and directed them to conduct a high-level inquiry. “In a recent review on airline safety, I have ordered to put in place a third-party professional organisation to look into various safety aspects. In order to have continuous attention towards air safety, I have also ordered officials to put in place a regular “safety compliance report” of all airlines”, he said in a series of tweets. “Safety of passengers is of paramount importance for us. We will take all that’s required to put safety on top of aviation agenda. Growth can’t be at the expense of safety,” he added. (With inputs from HTC in Mumbai)<doc-sep>Air India Express Trichy-Dubai flight hits compound wall, diverted to Mumbai The aircraft, with 136 on board, hit the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and the compound wall while it was taking off. news Accident An Air India Express flight from Trichy to Dubai with 136 passengers on board hit the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and the compound wall while it was taking off. The incident took place at 1:20 am on Friday. The flight was diverted to Mumbai and landed safely at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. All the passengers are safe. According to reports in news agency ANI, the aircraft suffered damages on its belly in the incident. However, after an inspection at the Mumbai airport, it was given it a go-ahead for operations. An internal inquiry has been set up to investigate the incident and the pilot and co-pilot have been suspended till the probe is completed. Pictures taken at the site show that a part of the compound wall of the airport has been broken due to the impact. This indicates that the flight was just taking off when it grazed the compound wall of the ATC which led to it crumbling down due to the speed of the aircraft. Speaking to media persons outside the damaged compound wall in Trichy airport, Tamil Nadu Tourism Minister Vellamandi Natarajan said that he would be looking into the matter. â€śOfficials at the airport are now investigating the matter. Since this is my Assembly constituency, I have come here directly to oversee the investigation and inform the officials of the next course of action,â€ť the official said. The major reason for the accident is suspected to be the lack of a sufficient runway length at the Trichy airport. The only airport to have the shortest runway of 8,136 feet is Tiruchirapalli International airport. Plans to expand the runway in the airport have been in the offing for a decade now, but cannot be completed due to want of more land. "In a recent review on airline safety, I have ordered to put in place a third party professional organisation to look into various safety aspects at @airindiain. 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.Safety of the passengers is of paramount importance for us. We will take all thatâ€™s required to put safety on top of aviation agenda. Growth canâ€™t be at the expense of safety," Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu Tweeted on Friday In a recent review on airline safety, I have ordered to put in place a third party professional organisation to look into various safety aspects at @airindiain â€” Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) October 12, 2018 Safety of the passengers is of paramount importance for us. We will take all thatâ€™s required to put safety on top of aviation agenda. Growth canâ€™t be at the expense of safety. â€” Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) October 12, 2018 The Civil Aviation Minister also said that he had spoken to other senior officials in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and that a high level enquiry into the incident will be conducted.<doc-sep>
Air India flight Dubai Tamil Nadu airport Mumbai Trichy The damaged airport wall Miraculous escape for 136 passengers as Air India Express flight from Trichy-Dubai makes Emergency landing in Mumbai 01:11 The take-off wheel that hit the airport boundary wall AnExpresstofrom’s Tiruchirappalli, carrying 136 passengers, had a miraculous escape during take-off early Friday morning. The flight’s take-off wheel allegedly hit the compound wall soon after take-off. The 130 passengers and 6 crew members are safe and the IX 611 flight made an emergency landing at’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.The flight Took off fromat 1.30 am and made an emergency landing at Mumbaiat 5.39 am. An alternate flight was arranged to take the passengers to Dubai.The pilot in command reported that aircraft systems were operating normally, however, diverting the flight to Mumbai was a precautionary measure. The pilot in command D Ganesh Babu has a flying experience of 3.600 hours on the B 737 aircraft, including 500 hours as a commander. The flight’s first officer Anurag has an experience of 3,000 hours on the B 737 aircraft. Both pilots have been derostered pending investigation.The incident has reported to DGCA and investigation is underway.Tamil Nadu Tourism Minister Vellamandi N Natrajan, who assessed the spot, said, “The flight which was to go to Dubai during take-off had its take-off wheel hitting on the compound wall and the air traffic level. The flight, with its passengers, has reached Mumbai safely. The airport authorities are assessing the situation here. All necessary action to bring back normalcy will be taken.”(This is a developing story)