Technical Fault, Bad Weather Force Air India Emergency Landing with Five MPs
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): An Air India flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi had to be diverted to Chennai due to technical problems and bad weather. Five MPs - KC Venugopal, Kodikkunnil Suresh, Adoor Prakash, K. Radhakrishnan and Robert Bruce - were on board the plane. The plane landed safely at Chennai airport.
Sharing the information on the social media platform 'X', Congress MP KC Venugopal said that the flight started late. After some time, heavy turbulence was faced. About an hour later, the captain announced flight signal fault and the plane was diverted to Chennai.
According to Venugopal, the plane circled over Chennai for about two hours and during the first landing attempt, the captain had to pull the plane up. He claims that another plane was present on the runway at that time. However, the flight landed safely in the second attempt. He said, "Skill and luck saved us. The safety of passengers cannot depend on luck. DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation should investigate this and fix accountability."
Air India clarified that the diversion to Chennai was a precautionary move due to suspected technical problems and bad weather. During the first landing attempt, Chennai ATC had instructed a go-around and not due to the presence of any other aircraft on the runway. The airline said the pilots are trained and standard procedures were followed. The company regretted the inconvenience caused to the passengers and said safety was the top priority.