Pilots ceaselessly encounter hazards like chicken hits, a brief runway and tall bushes whereas working on the Patna airport, the place practically 200 individuals on board a Delhi-bound plane just lately had a detailed shave, because the aircraft caught fireplace quickly after take-off, specialists stated.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has initiated a probe into the incident that happened on June 19 on the Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport. “We will be able to know the exact cause only after completion of the investigation. However, the Patna airport has remained a critical spot for pilots. On one side, there are tall trees that make landing or taking off a tricky affair,” V Ok Bhalla, former chief of Air India Pliots Union, instructed PTI.
“The safe emergency landing of the SpiceJet flight was possible due to the cool and calm efforts of both pilots and crew members. But, I must say that when trees are not removed from one side of the runway, such incidents are bound to happen. Trees invite birds. The investigating team must look into these aspects at the Patna airport,” Bhalla added.
In a press release, SpiceJet had stated on take-off, the cockpit crew suspected a chicken hit on engine 1 throughout rotation of the plane, which was flying from Patna to Delhi. There had been 185 passengers on board.“As a precautionary measure and as per SOP (standard operating procedure), the captain shut down the affected engine and decided to return to Patna,” it stated.
Experts additionally imagine that the Patna airport is marked as vital attributable to its brief runway. Of its 2,286-metre runway, just one,954 metres are literally out there to be used by pilots for take-off attributable to location constraints.
“Open abattoirs, meat shops and garbage dumps near the airport also invite birds. The waste dumps are kept clean by the authorities, but I am not aware about the measures taken by the district administration in view of the abattoirs and meat shops,” Anchal Prakash, Director of Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport, instructed PTI.
On July 17, 2000, the airport had hit the headlines when a Delhi-bound Boeing 737 plane, coming from Kolkata, ploughed via a residential colony quickly after take-off killing greater than 60 individuals, together with six native residents.The courtroom of inquiry, which was subsequently ordered, stated in its report that the runway was too brief.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”