If a group of local residents had not been vigilant enough, a Go Air flight to Bangalore with about 200 on board would have met a tragic fate on Wednesday evening. The locals spotted fire and smoke from the aircraft's tail and immediately alerted a PCR which in turn conveyed the emergency to Delhi ATC.
The flight captain was alerted and was asked to return, after which the flight asked for help and safely landed at the Indira Gandhi International airport with all the passengers and crew members safe.
The incident came to light around 7.40 pm when the CISF Control Room at the domestic terminal 1D, received a call from the Delhi police control room that two persons had reportedly seen the tail of a flight on fire, which was flying over Ghoyla Dairy area near Dwarka in south-west Delhi.
"The two witnesses had informed the Delhi police about the incident and accordingly the message was conveyed to Airport Operations Control Centre and to the Air Traffic Control. After some efforts the flight was identified as Go Air flight - G8 557 - which had departed for Bangalore at 7.28 from the IGI airport," said a senior officer.
Meanwhile, the pilot also told ATC that he had detected engine failure and sought clearance to land on priority. A full emergency was then declared due to one engine failure of this flight and it was provided with clearance to land at the runway 28.
"All the necessary precautions were taken and fire safety and ambulances were kept on standby in order to handle any untoward situation. However, G8 557 landed safely at about 7.47 pm, after being air borne for about 20 minutes. All the 193 passengers were marked safe," the officer said.
