Close shave for 174 as Indigo engine fails

PATNA: At least 174 flyers had a providential escape as a Patna-Delhi Indigo aircraft’s engine developed a snag and made a frightening noise seconds before it was to go air-borne from the

Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport

in Patna on Friday evening.

An official statement from Indigo said flight 6E-508 was involved in a low-speed reject due to suspected engine stall. “All the 174 passengers on board the aircraft were evacuated safely within 60 second as per the standard operating procedure,” it said.

The airlines said the captain decided to reject the take-off and evacuate the passengers as a precautionary measure after the flight crew noticed smoke in the cabin. The airlines, however, ruled out tyre burst or engine fire. “There was no technical snag reported when the aircraft had arrived (from Delhi) at

Patna airport

,” it added.

Evacuated passengers told TOI the pilot applied the emergency brakes, bringing the plane to a screeching halt seconds before its take-off. Sources said the plane would have been running at a speed of about 150 nautical miles (280 kmph) at that time.

“The plane had almost completed its take-off run when we heard a loud noise. Soon it came to a screeching halt and the pilot told us over the mic to deplane immediately, leaving behind our luggage,” Patna high court’s additional advocate general Dhruv Mukherjee told TOI.

Mukherjee, who was seated on 3-A, said though the aircraft crew guided the passengers, few suffered minor injuries as they scrambled to get out of the aircraft using the evacuation slide.

Aviation experts estimated on the basis of the runway’s length (2,300 metres), the temperature conditions (25°C) and the weight of the aircraft that the plane might have covered about 1,550 metres when its left engine stalled.

“The aircraft must have attained its rotating speed, which gives the required lift for the flight to take off. The engine must be operating at its full power by then. Had it been raining at the time, the aircraft could have run the risk of overshooting the runway as the friction coefficient reduces when it rains,” explained an aviation expert, preferring anonymity.

Indigo said the matter had been reported to the Director General of Civil Aviation. Flight operations remained stalled for at least three hours at the airport following the incident as fire tenders and other emergency vehicles rushed to the runway and senior officials conducted initial investigations.

The passengers of 6E-508 as well those booked in next flights were stranded till 9pm. They included BJP functionary Sushil Kumar Modi and Union minister Ram Kripal Yadav, who were to fly Jet Airways’s 9W-731 at 6.40pm for Delhi to attend the Parliament’s midnight session for GST rollout.

Patna airport director R S Lahauria told TOI around 9pm the flight operations resumed “just now”. “All the flights scheduled for the day will take off one after another till 11.30pm,” he said and added an Indigo aircraft was on way to Patna to fly the grounded aircraft’s passngers to Delhi tonight itself.