NEW DELHI: A Delhi-London flight with 155 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the Indira Gandhi international airport in New Delhi on Saturday morning. The pilot was forced to land immediately after taking off after a fire alarm went off in the cockpit.
The aircraft, a Boeing 777-300, had taken off at 6:45am from the airport. But soon after the pilot got in touch with the air traffic control requesting clearance for an emergency landing. The airport announced a full emergency and all paramedical staff, fire personnel, and doctors took up their positions. The aircraft landed safely at 7:30am.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the smoke alarm system went off due to an electrical short circuit in the entertainment system fitted in the passenger seats. The aircraft with a seating capacity of 340 and a state-of-the-art entertainment system has been recently inducted into Air India’s fleet.
“The aircraft is in fine condition and is being checked thoroughly by our engineers,” an Air India spokes-man said. “The passengers were accommodated in another aircraft.”
It was later announced that the aircraft will fly to London on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the directorate-general of civil aviation has told its officials at airports to be extra vigilant about aircraft undergoing repairs. On Thursday a GoAir flight made an emergency landing in New Delhi after the pilot found that a wheel was missing. The DGCA has sought detailed records of the upkeep of aircraft from the airline. GoAir, in turn, has suspended an engineer in Mumbai in charge of aircraft repairs.
