A Ranchi-bound IndiGo flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Monday, PTI news agency reported, citing officials. Officials added that the emergency landing happened due to a bird hit and all 175 passengers on board were safe.
PTI further reported that the aircraft suffered damage after it was hit by vulture around 4,000 feet altitude.
"An IndiGo flight suffered a bird hit near Ranchi. It was approximately 10 to 12 nautical miles away from here, at about 3,000 to 4,000 feet altitude, when the incident occurred. The IndiGo flight was coming from Patna to Ranchi, and the pilot had to make an emergency landing here," Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, Director R R Maurya told news agency PTI.
He added that the “aircraft suffered a dent after being hit by a vulture. Engineers are assessing the damage.”
IndiGo flights face the brunt
On Sunday, an IndiGo flight heading to Delhi experienced major turbulence due to the intense weather in the national capital.
Flight 6E 6313 – from Raipur to Delhi - landed safely at the Delhi airport after circling in the air for a while due to the dust storm on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}Flight 6E 6313 – from Raipur to Delhi - landed safely at the Delhi airport after circling in the air for a while due to the dust storm on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}Due to the severity of the weather, the pilot aborted landing at Delhi airport and circled in the air until the weather condition improved for landing.
This incident comes weeks after a Srinagar-bound IndiGo flight suffered major turbulence after take-off from Delhi's IGI airport. The plane got caught in a severe hailstorm near Pathankot, Punjab and also suffered damage to the nose of the plane due to the hail.
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The hailstorm for the Srinagar-bound flight resulted in the IndiGo pilots requesting permission to enter Pakistani airspace to avoid the hailstorm and heavy rain. After permission was denied by both the Indian Air Force and Lahore Air Traffic Control, the pilots continued their journey to Srinagar and landed safely.