An Air India Express aircraft with 176 passengers and crew members makes an emergency landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on February 24, 2023. Photo credits: Mahinsha S.
Around 176 passengers and six crew members on board Calicut-Dammam Air India Express flight (IX 385) were injured after it allegedly hit the runway surface during take-off at Calicut International Airport at 9.44 am on February 24. There were anxious moments. ,
The AIE aircraft had to make an ’emergency landing’ at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport at 12.15 pm after it was reportedly damaged during the incident. According to sources, after the tail of the plane “touched the runway surface”, the pilot requested a precautionary landing and diverted the flight to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, according to the airline’s language.
Initially, the flight was to land here at 11.03 am, which was later rescheduled for 12.15 pm as the pilot reported “dumping fuel” around the airport before landing here in “emergency mode”.
“The aircraft, a Boeing 738, was able to land safely at the airport and all passengers were transferred to the transit lounge. The emergency was also withdrawn immediately after landing and no flight services were affected by the emergency landing.
The airline company chose Thiruvananthapuram airport for landing as it has Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) facility at Thiruvananthapuram. In addition, the aircraft had fuel to fly for approximately 6.30 hours and the aircraft body has structural load limits for landing with full fuel load.
“It was not immediately known what went wrong with the plane during take-off,” the official said. Many times such incidents resulted from attempting take-off before attaining take-off speed. Only a detailed investigation can reveal the actual cause of the accident,” said an airport source.
On February 19 a full emergency declared ‘Nose wheel tire decap’ reported at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport after an Air India Express flight from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram. Later, aircraft IX 540 with 156 people on board including the crew made a safe emergency landing at the airport early in the morning.