From Tilt to Touchdown: Gwalior Airport Averts Disaster as Air India Express Lands Safely

 Gwalior (The Uttam Hindu): There was a commotion on Saturday at Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Airport in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, when an Air India Express flight coming from Bangalore lost balance during landing. The plane failed to land in its first attempt, after which 160 passengers were left breathless. However, due to the presence of mind of the pilot, the plane was landed safely in the second attempt, after which the passengers and the airport administration heaved a sigh of relief.

This incident happened on Saturday afternoon at around 2:15 pm. When the Air India Express Boeing flight which had reached Gwalior from Bengaluru was landing, it reportedly tilted to one side and could not land on the runway in the first attempt. This unexpected incident caused panic and screaming among the passengers on board the plane.

The pilot immediately took the plane back into the air (Go-around) and after circling for a while, the plane landed successfully in the second attempt. After the safe landing, many angry passengers created a ruckus at the airport and questioned the service of Air India and made a written complaint about the incident to the airport administration and airline officials.

Gwalior Airport Director A.K. Goswami said on the matter, "This Boeing plane was coming from Bangalore to Gwalior. It is true that the plane could not land in the first attempt, but it landed successfully in the second attempt." He denied any technical fault in the plane and said that later the same plane flew safely from Gwalior to Bangalore. He said that sometimes such situations arise in which the plane has to circle again.

At the same time, an Air India Express spokesperson said in a statement, "One of our aircraft made a go-around and then made a safe and normal landing in Gwalior. The crew is trained to do so as a precaution when required."

This is not the first time that an Air India flight has narrowly escaped an accident. Recently, a flight carrying several MPs, including Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi was diverted to Chennai due to bad weather. While landing in Chennai, the pilot saw another plane parked on the runway and averted a major accident by lifting the plane back into the air at the last moment.