Air India’s newest Airbus A350, operating a Delhi-New York flight with over 250 passengers on board, suffered engine damage after ingesting an improperly secured baggage container while taxiing amid fog to its parking bay at Delhi airport.
The incident occurred when Flight AI101, which returned to the national capital shortly after take-off after Iran unexpectedly closed its airspace, was taxiing to its parking bay in dense fog.
No one was injured but it was nonetheless a harrowing experience for the passengers as their journey had already been disrupted midair because of the closure of Iranian airspace in the early hours of Thursday.
The damage caused to the aircraft disrupted the Tata-owned airline’s services on select A350 routes on a day the aviation sector had to as it is reckon with disruptions because of the Iranian airspace closure. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which carried out a preliminary probe, is conducting a further investigation into
the incident.
According to DGCA, the aircraft landed safely at Delhi’s Runway 28. “While taxiing to (the) apron, at taxiway N/N4 intersection, No. 2 engine ingested a cargo container causing substantial damage to (the) engine. The incident occurred around 5:25 IST. The visibility at the time of incident was marginal,” the regulator said in a statement.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that a BWFS (Bird Wildlife Flight Services) tug transporting a few containers to ‘Baggage Makeup Area’ of Terminal 3 crossed the intersection while on the vehicular lane. During crossing, one of the containers toppled onto the taxiway intersection. This container got ingested into No. 2 engine of Air India A350 aircraft. After clearing the metal pieces, the aircraft was parked on stand 244.”
Confirming the development, Air India said: “The aircraft is currently grounded for a thorough investigation and necessary repairs, which may cause potential disruptions on select A350 routes.”
The airline also expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the passengers and said it was proactively assisting them with alternative travel arrangements and refunds, as preferred.
ALPA India general secretary, Captain Anil Rao, said: “Such incidents can be prevented if the ground handling staff strictly follow the procedure of managing baggage.”
Rao, emphasising guidelines on baggage management, said ground handling staff have to strictly adhere to safety norms and are not allowed to leave any objects beyond designated lines.
Experts said that such incidents do occasionally occur but added that they have not heard of this kind of damage and ingestion of a container. “I am hearing for the first time of such intensive damage to the engine due to a foreign object,” Subhash Goyal, an aviation expert, told The Telegraph.
