A senior police officer in Delhi described what he termed as a "harrowing experience" on an IndiGo flight from Ayodhya to Delhi on Saturday, when bad weather forced it to be diverted to Chandigarh. The officer alleged that the pilot "wasted a lot of time" mid-air to decide the next course of action.
Satish Kumar, DCP Crime, was flying from Ayodhya to Delhi on Saturday on IndiGo flight 6E2702. The plane was scheduled to land in Delhi at 4:30 pm after it took off from the Uttar Pradesh city at 3:25 pm. Fifteen minutes before they were to land, the pilot announced that there was bad weather at the Delhi airport, Kumar said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
"Around 4:15 p.m. the pilot announced that there’s bad weather at @DelhiAirport and assured that the plane has 45 minutes of Holding Fuel," Kumar wrote.
"The pilot attempted landing twice, but couldn't due to bad weather and still wasted a lot of time deciding the next course of action."
According to the police officer, it was only after 75 minutes that the pilot informed the passengers that he would attempt to land in Chandigarh.
{{/usCountry}}According to the police officer, it was only after 75 minutes that the pilot informed the passengers that he would attempt to land in Chandigarh.
{{/usCountry}}"By that time a lot of passengers and one of the crew staff started puking out of panic," Kumar said.
The plane finally landed in Chandigarh at 6:10 pm, 115 minutes after the IndiGo pilot said the plane had holding fuel for just 45 minutes, Kumar said.
"Got to know after landing that we’ve landed in the nick of time with only 1 or 2 minutes of fuel left from the crew staff. What an ordeal it was for the passengers," he said.
Check out what the Delhi police officer wrote on X:
The officer urged the Civil Aviation Ministry and aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to check if all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) were followed or if it was a "narrow escape".
As many as 22 flights were diverted at the Delhi airport on Saturday evening due to bad weather, news agency PTI quoted an official as saying.
Of them, nine flights were diverted to Jaipur, eight to Lucknow, two to Chandigarh, and one each to Varanasi, Amritsar and Ahmedabad.
The official said nine flights of IndiGo, eight flights of Air India, and three flights of Vistara were among those that were diverted.
The flights were diverted between 3 pm and 6:30 pm, the official added.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in the national capital handles around 1,300 flight movements daily.