New Delhi: A Mumbai-bound Air India plane, with 162 passengers on board, was damaged when its windshield was hit by small stone blown away by the jet blast of another aircraft while taxiing at the IGI airport on Sunday evening.
Around 1705 hrs IST, Air India flight IC 836 was taxiing from Bay number 13 for the runway, while a Jet Airways aircraft which was on Bay number 15 was taxiing ahead of the Air India plane, according to the airport sources.
Suddenly the Jet pilot increased the thrust of the engine which resulted in the damage of one of the windshields of Airbus 321 of the national carrier, they said.
Our flight was aborted and during the inspection it was found that the windshield was hit by some foreign object (stones) probably lying on the taxi way, an Air India official said.
A new aircraft was brought in and the flight took off for Mumbai at 1950 hrs IST, after a delay of about two hours 45 minutes, he said.
When contacted, the airport operator DIAL said prima facie it appeared that the Jet pilot increased the thrust while taxiing out, which damaged the Air India aircraft.
The matter has been referred to the DGCA which will be investigating the incident, a DIAL spokesperson said.
According to the sources, some construction work was going on near the taxi way where the incident happened, and since Jet pilot increased the thrust the construction material (small stone) flew and hit the aircraft.
Comments
0 comment