Hard landing of a Jet Airways flight at Mumbai airport on Thursday led to chaos on Friday morning. Due to closure of the primary runway following the incident, many flights were delayed and others had to resort to go-arounds. Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched an investigation into the case.
As per aviation parlance, a 'hard landing' is defined as an uncontrolled landing which may occur due to a variety of reasons. Prima facie, the investigation revealed that the hard landing happened due to glitches in the main landing gear.
According to airport officials, the accident of the Boeing 737-900 aircraft took place around 9.52pm. The 9w 354 Delhi-Mumbai flight had 120 passengers and eight crew members on board.
Describing the accident, the pilots in their report sheet mentioned that after landing they heard a thud and the aircraft started turning towards the right. "While vacating runway, we felt the aircraft suddenly tilting towards the right," the report said.
The investigators suspect that there could have been some problem with the hydraulic system near the right wing of the plane which could have resulted in a tyre-burst. Airport sources said so severe was the impact that the right engine touched the runway tarmac, leading to fuel leakage. The pilots managed to control the situation and the plane came to a safe halt. The primary runway which had to be cleared for further operations, remained closed till Friday morning. The operations were shifted to the secondary runway.
"Thankfully, there was no fire, or else, it could have led to a catastrophe. An emergency was declared on the runway and the fire brigade and ambulances were immediately summoned to face any exigency," said a source.
Could it have been the result of a manufacturing defect? Aviation expert Mohan Ranganathan said, "The manufacturer cannot be blamed. The photos that I saw on Twitter clearly indicate that it was a very hard landing on the right main gear. The landing gear struts appear to have gone through the wing. It is an accident and not an incident."
A Jet Airways spokesperson blamed the accident on technical fault. "Recovery operations for the aircraft commenced simultaneously and continued through the night. At 10am today (Friday), the recovery operations completed and the aircraft was shifted to the Jet Airways hangar."
At least one aircraft was made to go around and two others were diverted due to the accident on Thursday night. On Friday, at least six aircraft had to be diverted due to strong winds and three plans made go-arounds. The aircraft tracking websites reported 40 minutes of average flight delays at CSIA.
(Culled from dnaindia.com)
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