Reverse Scare: Plane rolls back 100 feet at Bengaluru airport

A flight coming from New Delhi rolled back about 100 feet at the Kempegowda International Airport, scaring the 165 passengers on board, after it had landed and parked in Bengaluru.

A New Delhi to Bengaluru AirAsia India flight reportedly rolled around 100 feet in the reverse direction after landing safely, giving an almighty scare to all the 165 passengers onboard on Tuesday.

An AirAsia India flight rolled back 100 feet at the Kempegowda International Airport after landing safely on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) (AP)

The plane had already parked at a remote parking bay and was to depart on its return leg to New Delhi shortly. The Flight No. I5 740 had reportedly departed from Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 8 am and landed at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport at about 10.36 am, four minutes before schedule.

According to reports, the near-accident happened due to lack of coordination between the aircraft engineers on the ground and the Flight Captain, a miscommunication leading to the situation.

Recounting the exact sequence of events, reports stated the flight had landed safely and proceeded to the remote parking bay instead of the main regular parking bays where aircraft are stationed when not operating or for re-fueling. The remote parking bay is said to be away from the aerobridge and the terminal. The flight was parked here because it was to return to Delhi immediately with departure time set at 11.20 am.

After a flight has landed completely, the pilot puts the brakes on and then cuts off the engine to park it. Engineers on the ground then place wedge-shaped rubber or wooden blocks, which are called chocks, in front and behind all the wheels to prevent the plane from moving or rolling back. Only after the engineer signals that the chocks are in place does the pilot release the brakes.

In Tuesday's rare incident, the pilot had reportedly released the brakes before the chocks were placed around the wheels, and this made the plane roll back by about 100 feet. There was a danger of collision, where the passengers would have been endangered if any other aircraft had been taxiing behind it at the same time. However, the pilot immediately stopped the plane by pressing on the brakes.

A spokesperson of the airline reportedly told news websites that they are investigating the incident in detail. In a statement, the spokesperson said, “While parking at the Bengaluru airport on March 22, an AirAsia India Airbus A320 aircraft rolled back. The pilot applied the brakes gently as per established procedures and stopped the aircraft. It was then towed and repositioned.”

Due to the incident, the passengers were delayed in exiting the flight, which had a domino effect on the flight’s return trip to Delhi that got delayed by 18 minutes. The flight took off for Delhi at 11.38 am.