A TV grab of Air
India flight AI-9760 after it made an emergency landing at the Lokapriya
Gopinath Bardoloi International airport in Guwahati on Sunday. It lost
one of its front-wheels during takeoff from Silchar. At right is Captain
Urmila Yadav, who landed the plane safely.
Photos: PTI and Ritu Raj
Konwar
A woman pilot averted an air tragedy on Sunday by her deft handling of a
Guwahati-bound aircraft after it lost one of its nosewheels during
takeoff from the Kumbhirgram airport in Silchar.
The ATR aircraft had 48 passengers. Its five-member crew comprised three women, including the pilot.
Captain Urmila Yadav, circled the Air India flight AI-9760 over the
Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi International (LGBI) airport here for about
one hour before she made a skilful emergency landing.
Earlier she asked the crew to shift some goods from the cockpit to the
rear to reduce the load on the front, to facilitate safe landing.
The passengers thanked the pilot for saving their lives.
Gogoi's pat for pilot
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi congratulated Captain Urmila and co-pilot
Yashu. “Hats off to you and your co-pilot for your daring and courageous
act which saved the precious lives of passengers,” he told her over the
phone, an official release said.
Narrating his experience, noted Assamese linguist and a senior official
of the Assam Agricultural University Sumanta Chaliha told The Hindu the
passengers got wind of the emergency situation only when the crew gave
flight safety demonstration for the second time after flying for about
30 minutes.
“When we asked the crew if anything had gone wrong, we were told that
there was a minor technical snag and it was being taken care of.
However, after some time they made a formal announcement of an emergency
landing. We came to know that the aircraft lost one of its nose wheels.
A woman passenger seated in front of me fainted and several passengers
started crying. I was calm and composed, leaving everything to God.
“We came to know that the aircraft flew extra time to burn fuel midair
and as soon as the aircraft landed the engine was switched off. It came
to a halt quickly. While getting down I noticed that one of the nose
wheels was missing.”
It was the Air Traffic Control (ATC) of the Indian Air Force at
Kumbhirgram which noticed that something had fallen off the aircraft
after it took off. It then alerted the LGBI ATC.
“We knew that the aircraft was coming with a wheel of nose assembly
missing. The pilot was informed and asked if she would land or fly off.
When she said she would land, she was asked to do a mandatory low pass
so that the ground staff could inspect the nose assembly. We requested
her to hold over Guwahati for sometime till we cleared the runway. A
Kolkata-bound Spicejet flight was allowed to take off and an in-coming
Air India flight from Delhi allowed to land. After the runway was
cleared, the aircraft was allowed to land. The pilot really did a
skilful landing and handled the entire situation very well. If the
aircraft had made a normal landing without knowing that one of its nose
wheels was missing then anything could have happened,” said an ATC
official.
The scheduled departure of the flight from Silchar was 7.20 a.m. but it
was delayed due to inclement weather. The flight took off at 9 a.m.
Forty-eight passengers and crew members on board an Air India ATR aircraft (AI 9760 ATR) had a miraculous escape on Sunday because of deft handling of an emergency landing situation by the pilot of the aircraft. There were two cockpit crew, two cabin crew and an engineer on board the flight.
Passengers travelling in the aircraft from Silchar (in South Assam) to Guwahati were staring at a dreadful situation before landing at Guwahati airport when one of the nose wheels of their aircraft fell off after take-off.
The aircraft then hovered over Guwahati airport for about an hour, while preparing for emergency landing with just one nose wheel. The flight took off from Silchar airport at 9 am though it was scheduled to take off at 7-20 am. The delay was because of bad weather.
"We were alarmed that something was seriously wrong when one of the cabin crew started give safety demonstration for the second time after were into hour of flight. On being asked, she said some emergency situation was anticipated," said Sumanta Chaliha, noted litterateur and an engineer who was sitting at the seat number 4B in the aircraft.
"The passengers got really panicked when they saw a cabin crew evacuating heavy things such as suitcases from the cockpit of the aircraft. The cabin crew told some of the passengers that one of the nose wheels of the aircraft has fallen off triggering the panic button. Some of the women passengers including a professor from Assam University in Silchar, Dr Meghali Goswami, even fainted out of panic," Chaliha said.
A source in the airline said that after burning the fuel in the tank during hovering over Guwahati airport, the pilot, Urmila Yadav managed to land the plane safe without any damage. The fuel was burnt to reduce the weight of the plane as well as to chances of fire during emergency landing. All the passengers were deplaned safe at around 11 am.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi congratulated Urmila and co-pilot Yashu for saving the the lives of the 52 people. Gogoi spoke to Urmila over phone and conveyed his thanks to her and the co-pilot for showing alacrity, courage and dexterity by landing the flight safely.
"Hats off to you and your co-pilot for your daring and courageous act which saved the precious lives of the passengers," he added.
With inputs from PTI
K Anurag in Guwahati
http://www.rediff.com
The aircraft then hovered over Guwahati airport for about an hour, while preparing for emergency landing with just one nose wheel. The flight took off from Silchar airport at 9 am though it was scheduled to take off at 7-20 am. The delay was because of bad weather.
"We were alarmed that something was seriously wrong when one of the cabin crew started give safety demonstration for the second time after were into hour of flight. On being asked, she said some emergency situation was anticipated," said Sumanta Chaliha, noted litterateur and an engineer who was sitting at the seat number 4B in the aircraft.
"The passengers got really panicked when they saw a cabin crew evacuating heavy things such as suitcases from the cockpit of the aircraft. The cabin crew told some of the passengers that one of the nose wheels of the aircraft has fallen off triggering the panic button. Some of the women passengers including a professor from Assam University in Silchar, Dr Meghali Goswami, even fainted out of panic," Chaliha said.
A source in the airline said that after burning the fuel in the tank during hovering over Guwahati airport, the pilot, Urmila Yadav managed to land the plane safe without any damage. The fuel was burnt to reduce the weight of the plane as well as to chances of fire during emergency landing. All the passengers were deplaned safe at around 11 am.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi congratulated Urmila and co-pilot Yashu for saving the the lives of the 52 people. Gogoi spoke to Urmila over phone and conveyed his thanks to her and the co-pilot for showing alacrity, courage and dexterity by landing the flight safely.
"Hats off to you and your co-pilot for your daring and courageous act which saved the precious lives of the passengers," he added.
With inputs from PTI
K Anurag in Guwahati
http://www.rediff.com
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