‘Pilot detected suspected technical issue': What Air India said after Delhi flight diverted to Chennai
According to the Air India Spokesperson, the flight was diverted to Chennai as a 'precautionary measure' and in view of the weather conditions en route to Delhi. 'It was decided to divert to Chennai instead of Bengaluru as the weather in Chennai was clear.'
Air India also clarified that the pilot had to hold over Chennai 'to reduce weight' as the aircraft was overweight for an immediate landing.
'No emergency was declared,' the spokesperson said.
The airline explained that during the first landing approach, the Air Traffic Controller (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.
'After following a standard go-around, the flight made a normal and safe landing,' it added.
Air India reiterates that the decision to divert to Chennai was taken in the best interest of the safety of its passengers and crew.
'Our crew are well trained to handle such situations, and in this case, they followed the protocols during the entire flight,' they said.
The airline also assured that all the affected passengers were accommodated on alternate flights to Delhi, and apologised for the inconvenience caused by the diversion and consequent delay
'The said aircraft has also resumed commercial operations,' Air India Spokesperson added.
Aviation watchdog the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the flight was diverted due to a suspected malfunction of the aircraft's weather radar.
"Crew observed that the weather information depicted on the weather RADAR was not accurate, suspecting weather RADAR malfunction diverted to Chennai," the regulator said and added that during engineering inspection, no deficiency was observed, but as a precautionary measure, 'WX radar transreceiver was replaced with a serviceable one.'
The DGCA, in a statement, said that the aircraft, with clearance from the ATC, orbited 25 nautical miles northeast of Chennai for 43 minutes from 21:25 to 22:08 hours to avoid an overweight landing and burn extra fuel.
"After the aircraft was cleared for approach Runway 25 at Chennai, at 22:19 aircraft was instructed to carry out a missed approach by ATC as departing Gulf Air flight GFA053 (Chennai-Bahrain) reported debris on left side of runway. Apron control carried out inspection of the runway and nothing was observed.
"Aircraft was given landing clearance and aircraft landed safely at 22:39 IST," the watchdog said.
Senior Congress leader K C Venugopal, who was on the Air India flight that diverted to Chennai, claimed the flight came "frighteningly close to tragedy".
Venugopal, who is also the Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee and a former Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said, 'For nearly two hours, we circled the airport awaiting clearance to land, until a heart-stopping moment during our first attempt -- another aircraft was reportedly on the same runway. In that split second, the Captain's quick decision to pull up saved every life on board. The flight landed safely on the second attempt.'
In his X post, the politician said, 'we were saved by skill and luck' and that passenger safety cannot depend on luck.
'I urge @DGCAIndia and @MoCA_GoI to investigate this incident urgently, fix accountability, and ensure such lapses never happen again,' he added.
It sparked a political uproar, with BJP IT Department Head Amit Malviya on Monday saying that if Venugopal claims an Air India flight had to abort landing in Chennai because another aircraft was on the runway and the airline immediately contradicts him, then one of them is misrepresenting facts.
Tagging Air India's reply to Venugopal's post, in which the airline said the diversion was precautionary, Malviya said this is extremely serious.
'If senior Congress leader KC Venugopal claims an Air India flight had to abort landing in Chennai because another aircraft was on the runway and the airline immediately contradicts him, then one of them is misrepresenting facts.'
'Aviation safety is paramount, and social media posts from supposedly responsible people cannot go unscrutinised. If the allegation is true, Chennai ATC and Air India have much to answer for. If not, Mr Venugopal should face consequences, including being put on a no-fly list for spreading falsehoods,' Malviya said in his post.
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