Timely action by pilots of a Bhopal-Mumbai Air India flight following a bird hit saved the lives of 90 passengers on board at the Raja Bhoj airport in Bhopal on Wednesday morning.
The AI634 Bhopal-Mumbai plane had just taken off with 90 passengers at 7.55am, when the pilots discovered that a bird hit had damaged the right engine of the plane.
According to airline sources the bird was suspected to have got sucked into one of the plane’s engine which could have shut it down.
{{/usCountry}}According to airline sources the bird was suspected to have got sucked into one of the plane’s engine which could have shut it down.
{{/usCountry}}An AI spokesperson confirmed the incident. “A bird strike is suspected to have caused the emergency landing. All passengers are safe,” said the spokesperson.
Passengers bound to Mumbai who was schedule come back on the same aircraft were held up for 30 minutes owing to the incident. The return flight scheduled to take off at 8:15 am, took off from the Raja Bhoj airport at 8:30 am, said airport officials.
According to Air India Bhopal local head V Acharya, the matter was immediately reported by the pilot to the air traffic control, after which they were permitted to make an emergency landing back at the same airport five minutes later.
All 90 passengers are safe and have been shifted to a city hotel. A flight from Delhi will arrive at Bhopal at 2.20pn, which will then fly the passengers at 3pm to Mumbai, Acharya added.