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‘Plane was only 30-40ft above runway’: Congress MP flags Air India ‘near-miss’ to aviation min
KC Venugopal reiterated his runway scare claim, saying that the pilot aborted landing at Chennai airport when plane was “only 30-40 feet” above ground.
Congress MP KC Venugopal has reportedly written a letter to Union minister of civil aviation requesting for an investigation into alleged safety lapses on the Trivandrum-Delhi Air India flight, on which he and the undersigned MPs were onboard on Sunday.
In the letter, shared by news agency ANI, KC Venugopal reiterated his runway scare claim, saying that the pilot aborted landing at Chennai airport when the aircraft was “only 30-40 feet” above the ground.
Also Read | Air India vs KC Venugopal: 'Near-miss runway tragedy' claim denied, MP says airline 'lying'
Air India on Monday rejected Congress MP KC Venugopal's claim that the Thiruvananthapuram-Delhi Air India plane with callsign AI 2455, carrying him and several other MPs, saw a “heart-stopping” moment as another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway when it made its first attempt to land at Chennai Airport, where the flight was diverted to.
KC Venugopal, in the letter to aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, said, "During the first landing attempt, when the aircraft was only 30-40 feet above the runway, the pilot suddenly aborted landing and executed a steep climb. We were subsequently informed that this was due to "something" – reportedly another aircraft – on the runway by the Captain himself. “The plane landed safely on the second attempt. Passengers were then moved to another aircraft amid confusion among the ground staff, and we were finally boarded and flown to Delhi on this second aircraft past midnight,” the letter read.
What Air India said
Air India, in a statement on Monday, had said that the during the first landing approach, the ATC asked the pilots to initiate a go-around as another aircraft that had taken off from the same runway had reported a suspected foreign object debris (FOD) on the runway at the Chennai airport.
Citing the June 12 Air India plane crash, KC Venugopal called the incident “deeply concerning” in his letter, saying it “raises serious questions about passenger safety protocols, operational decision-making, and the airline's approach to transparency.”
“At a time when the nation is still reeling from the recent tragic air accident in Ahmedabad and multiple reported mid-air technical incidents in recent months. such opacity from Air India is unacceptable. We therefore urge your Ministry to order a comprehensive and time-bound investigation into this incident, covering both technical and procedural aspects, and to ensure that the findings are made public in full. We also. request that clear accountability be fixed, operational protocols for emergency diversions and runway safety be strengthened, and passengers be given truthful and timely communication in such situations,” the letter read.
