Patna, June 3: A timely decision of the pilot of GoAir’s Mumbai-Delhi-Patna morning flight (G8 342) today saved lives of over 140 passengers on board.

Having descended to a height of about 400ft around 8.20am, the pilot (whose name the airline officials did not reveal) of the Airbus 320 aircraft realised that he would not be able to touch the threshold point of the runway for safe landing at the Patna airport. He immediately went for a go-around.

The Patna airport carries the tag of being one of the most critical airports of the country because of its short runway length and obstacles in the approach funnel. Even a minor fault at the time of touchdown can lead to a major accident, as the aircraft can overshoot the runway.

“The flight had reached Patna 10 minutes before its scheduled arrival. Suddenly we saw that the aircraft, after coming down to a low level, go upwards. After doing the go-around it landed at 8.30am,” a source in GoAir told The Telegraph.

In aviation terminology, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach.

Though none of the passengers on board the aircraft were available to share their experience, a source said some of them were quite nervous when they came out of the terminal building.

“One of the passengers told me that he was in a window seat and he became quite nervous when he saw the flight going upwards after an initial descent,” the source said.

GoAir officials, including station manager Manmohan Tiwari, claimed that nothing abnormal had taken place. “Our flight operated on time,” Tiwari said.

Though senior officials of Patna airport refused to share the details of the incident, one of them said the go-around did take place.

“At an airport like Patna, incidents of go-around are common, as pilots have to be precise about the touchdown point,” said an official, adding that with the instrument landing system (ILS) not functioning for the past one month because of maintenance work, things had become tougher for the pilots.

A source in the air traffic control said planes were not receiving signals emitted by ILS properly. The growth of vegetation at the zoo-side end of the runway, where ILS is fitted, and the vegetation outside the airport premises might be the reason for the glitch.

Aviation industry sources said given the precision required at the time of landing at the Patna airport, most of the operators ensure that only the experienced pilots operate on this route.

“The Patna airport is a tough nut. Hence, our airline uses the most experienced pilots while operating on this route,” said an employee of a private operator.

In June 2010, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had declared the Patna airport as one of the most critical airports in the country. Its runway length is about 7,500ft, less than the desired length for smooth landing of bigger aircraft like Boeing and Airbus.

The obstacle in the approach funnel on the runway reduces its effective length to 5,500ft, causing immense problems for pilots flying larger aircraft, as they have to make a hard landing.

A hard landing means that aircrafts land with a thud instead of a smooth transition to the ground.

The obstacles in the approach funnel of runway are the 184-ft-tall tower of the Old Secretariat and around 3,500 trees inside and outside the Patna zoo premises.

Electric wires and poles on the railway track of the Phulwari side is the other major obstacle in the approach funnel of the runway.