Air ambulance lands on belly in Mumbai as wheel falls off in Nagpur

CSMIA spokesperson confirmed the full emergency and said the flight safely landed at 9.09pm as all passengers were safely evacuated.

A Jet Serve Aviation’s Beechcraft C-90 aircraft, VT-JIL, was forced to make an emergency belly landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Thursday evening. The non-scheduled medical flight with five people, including a Covid patient, on-board had taken off from Bagdogra to land in Mumbai. It, however, had to land on its belly, as its left rear wheel got separated and fell off at Nagpur, where it had a halt for refuelling.

Air ambulance lands on belly in Mumbai as wheel falls off in Nagpur

CSMIA spokesperson confirmed the full emergency and said the flight safely landed at 9.09pm as all passengers were safely evacuated.

The flight had one patient and his relative, a doctor and two crew members on board.

Airports sources confirmed the aircraft’s pilot had contacted the Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) at around 7.20 to inform about the issue as a result of which the ATC declared a full emergency and informed all the stakeholders at CSMIA. “As preparations for the crash landing had to be made, the aircraft was on hold until the runway was foamed, so that the aircraft did not catch fire. It finally approached and landed runway 27 at 9.09pm,” said an airport official.

Sources from the airport added that the aircraft had sufficient fuel to hold and hence the crew decided to land on belly after the airport prepared for the landing. Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, ‘A Jet Serve Ambulance with a patient onboard lost a wheel during takeoff from Nagpur. Showing immense presence of mind Capt Kesari Singh belly landed the aircraft on foam carpeting in Mumbai. All onboard are safe. Commendable effort by @DGCAIndia @CSMIA_Official & other agencies.’

The airport’s emergency response team including the fire and rescue responders, follow-me vehicles, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), firefighting team immediately got into action and were on standby to provide immediate assistance to ensure the safe evacuation of the passengers. “As a precautionary method, CSMIA also foamed RWY 27 in order to avoid the aircraft catching fire. All passengers were evacuated safely and flights operating in and out of CSMIA remain on schedule,” CSMIA spokesperson added. Airport officials said that the onboard patient- fighting Covid-19, was immediately rushed to Nanavati hospital. Runway 27 was unavailable till 2am due to this incident.