A military helicopter crashed in Dimapur district, Nagaland, India, at around 9:30 a.m. on February 2.
The accident happened shortly after the Cheetah helicopter took off from Rangapahar helipad for a routine sortie.
All 3 people aboard, including an army official and 2 pilots, escaped unharmed.
Authorities said the helicopter crashed nose down and sustained damage.
The accident is under investigation.
A Pakistan Air Force plane made a stop at the Chowdhury Charan Singh Airport in Lucknow, India, on January 25.
The Phenom-100 jet was flying from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, when it had to land at the Indian airport for refuelling.
According to District Magistrate Rajshekhar, “There was no emergency. There was a Pakistani aircraft movement, that is PAAF-854 from Rawalpindi to Lucknow which landed at 1201 hours on Sunday and departed for Chittagong at 1252 hours.”
Pakistan Air Force spokesperson confirmed the landing however, he said that the plane was en-route to Singapore for inspection.
The plane was carrying 5 military officials at the time.
A helicopter carrying Indian Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had to return and make an emergency landing at Tezpur IAF airbase in Assam, India, on December 25.
The helicopter was en-route to Kokrajhar when it was forced to return due to a technical problem.
The chopper landed back uneventfully.
Singh resumed his journey in an alternate helicopter after some time.
GoAir flight 368 had to return and make an emergency landing in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, at around 9:30 a.m. on November 11.
The plane, carrying 116 passengers, was forced to return after a bird hit it just minutes after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad. The flight was heading to Mumbai at the time.
The plane landed safely and none of the passengers and crew members was injured.
Acting Director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport S P Pandey confirmed that the passengers were accommodated in another flight.
A SpiceJet aircraft hit a buffalo while taking off from Surat airport in Gujarat, India, at around 7 p.m. on November 6.
The Boeing 737-800 was taking off for Delhi when it hit and killed a stray buffalo.
None of the 146 passengers and crew members reported any injuries.
The aircraft was grounded for repair while the passengers and crew members were shifted to another aircraft.
The airline said in statement, “Stray animals are a growing menace in some airports. This incident has affected our regular operations and hence SpiceJet flights from Surat will now be suspended indefinitely.”
The Civil Aviation Authority has ordered the Airports Authority of India and the Director General of Civil Aviation to investigate the incident separately.
A medical emergency prompted Air India flight AI 331 to make an unscheduled landing in Kolkata, India, on November 5.
The flight was heading from Bangkok, Thailand, to Mumbai, India, when the pilot informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) that a passenger had become seriously ill and sought permission for an emergency landing.
The emergency medical services were put on standby at the airport, however, after some time, the pilot again informed that the passenger’s condition was quickly deteriorating and immediate medical advice was needed. A team of doctors was then taken to the ATC tower where they advised the pilot on the best possible emergency treatment which could be given to the patient onboard.
The flight, carrying 244 passengers, safely landed at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at around 10 p.m.
The sick passenger, identified as J Babariya, 58, of Gujarat, was immediately shifted to a local hospital where he later died.
The flight resumed its journey after some time.
An Indian Air Force AN-32 transport plane crash landed at the Air Force station runway in Chandigarh, India, at around 8:30 p.m. on September 20.
The aircraft developed some technical problem mid-air while returning from Bathinda and during landing it swerved off the runway, flipped over and caught fire.
The aircraft had 11 people aboard, including 5 crew members. All of them were rescued however, some of them sustained minor injuries. The injured were taken to the command hospital, Chandimandir.
The incident is being investigated by the Indian Air Force.
Emirates Airlines flight EK-432 was forced to make an emergency landing at Hyderabad International Airport, India, at around 7:40 a.m. on September 18.
The flight, en-route from Dubai to Singapore, was diverted after a female passenger suffered an acute brain stroke.
The plane landed safely and the patient, identified as Maria Lousia Victoria, 69, from Netherlands, was rushed to Apollo Hospitals in Jubilee Hills. The hospital authorities said that the left side of her body was paralyzed. She is currently held under observation in the ICU.
The flight resumed at 9:10 a.m.
Air India flight AI-019, form Delhi to Ahmedabad, landed in emergency at Sanganer Airport, Jaipur, India, on August 22, after its left engine failed.
According to an ATC official, “The pilot informed Jaipur air traffic controller (ATC) about some technical problem in the aircraft after which it was diverted.” One of the passengers said, “We got message from the captain that the left engine has failed and the plane will land at Jaipur.”
The Airbus-321 safely touched the runway at 7:25 a.m. None of the 104 people aboard reported any injuries.
The aircraft was grounded for examination and repair.
Twenty-Eight passengers were injured after a landing gear problem in IndiGo flight 6E-176 from Mumbai caused thick smoke emission on landing in New Delhi, India, and prompted an emergency evacuation on August 20.
Air Traffic Control (ATC) observed “dense smoke” coming out of the left-side lower portion of the Airbus A-320 after it landed at IGI Airport at about 3:30 p.m.then alerted the pilots and emergency services at the airport. All 154 people aboard the plane were evacuated using emergency slide-chutes.
Twenty-eight of 148 passengers suffered minor injuries during the slide evacuation, while the 6 crew members escaped unhurt.
Aviation regulator DGCA and the airline have initiated investigations. Preliminary investigations revealed that a heavy friction on the left brake assembly of the landing gear caused the smoke.
A Dubai-bound Air India Express flight IX 539 returned and made an emergency landing at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport, Kerala, India, at 10:30 p.m. on August 19.
The flight was scheduled to take off at 4:30 p.m. local time, however, the passengers were told that it would be delayed due to a technical issue in the aircraft. The plane finally took off at 7:52 p.m. and just minutes after that, the decision for emergency landing was made following a failure in the electronics system.
The plane landed uneventfully after shedding extra fuel. All 195 passengers and crew members remained unhurt.
The passengers were booked in another flight for Wednesday morning.
A Pawan Hans helicopter carrying Nagaland’s Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya made an emergency landing at a helipad in the premises of Bairagi Para Junior Basic School in Kalyanpur in western Tripura, India, in the afternoon of August 19.
According to the authorities, the helicopter with Governor Acharya and his wife Kavita aboard took off from Dimapur, made a stop at Imphal airport for refueling and was scheduled to land at Agartala airport. However, due to extremely bad weather, the pilot could not land at Agartala and instead landed about 40 km north in Kalyanpur.
Acharya and his wife had a good time with the students and also tasted the mid-day meal served by the school, according to Banamali Sinha, principal secretary in-charge of the Raj Bhavan secretariat. The police then escorted them to Dak Bunglow.
The helicopter was able to fly back to Agartala airport around 4:30 p.m., after getting clearance from the Air Traffic Controller.
Air India flight AI 965, heading to Jeddah via Hyderabad, returned to Mumbai airport, India, for emergency landing at 5:50 p.m. on August 15.
Reportedly some technical fault was discovered in the aircraft, due to which the pilots decided to return.
The aircraft, with 300 passengers on board, landed safely at Terminal 2 of the airport, after remaining in the air for 45 minutes.
The passengers were flown to their scheduled destination through an alternate aircraft at 9:22 p.m.
IndiGo Airlines flight 6E-244 from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, India, had to return for emergency landing on August 9 due to a bird strike.
According to Ahmedabad airport director R K Singh, the pilot reported the incident shortly after the plane took off and was allowed to make an emergency landing at the Ahmedabad airport.
The aircraft carrying 95 passengers and 6 crew-members aboard, landed safely. No one was hurt however, 2 rotors of the aircraft were damaged due to bird strike.
The officials said that no inquiry would be conducted since it was a natural incident.
Air India flight AI021 had to land in emergency in New Delhi, after rats were found running around the cabin, on the evening of August 4.
The Airbus A-321 was on its way from Calcutta to New Delhi when the crew members discovered ‘scores’ of rats in the cabin. The plane safely landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi after which, the passengers were evacuated and the aircraft was grounded for pest control treatment and fumigation.
According to a senior commander, “Rats on board an aircraft can lead to a catastrophe if they start chewing up electric wires of a fly by wire plane…If that happens, pilots will have no control on any system on board leading to a disaster.”
However, an Air India officer was reported saying that the rat infestation is ‘common’ in planes worldwide as the rodents could ‘get in anywhere.’ “They follow the catering vans into the plane when they smell the food,” he said.
A SpiceJet aircraft was hit by a bird while landing at Rajahmundry airport in Andhra Pradesh, India, at about 12 noon on July 26.
As per the details, a bird struck one of the engines of the aircraft, which was carrying 56 passengers aboard at the time. The pilot managed to land the aircraft safely, without declaring emergency. None of the passengers or crew members was hurt.
Spice Jet authorities had dispatched engineers from Hyderabad to Rajahmundry to repair the aircraft. The authorities expect the plane to be in the air by July 27.
A helicopter belonging to the Indian Air force crashed in Sitapur district of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state of India.
The helicopter, which was en route from Bareilly to Allahabad, crashed nose down and bursted into flames. The accident happened on July 25 at about 5 p.m. after the Dhruv helicopter lost radio and radar contact. According to the authorities, the pilot reported a technical fault in the helicopter before losing contact.
There were 2 pilots and 5 passengers aboard at the time of accident; all of them were killed. A statement released by the air force maintained that there was no report of any damage on the ground.
A New Delhi-bound Air India Flight from Kochi had to divert and make an emergency landing at Bangalore airport on the night of June 30.
The incident happened after a female passenger sent an SMS to her husband after checking in, saying that she had seen high security at the airport and there might be a bomb. The husband immediately contacted the Kochi airport authorities and reported that his wife had sent an SMS that a bomb had been planted on the flight. The authorities informed the pilot who diverted the flight AI-047 towards Bangalore and landed in emergency.
The plane landed safely and everyone aboard remained unhurt.
Authorities said that a case may be registered against the woman and her husband.
A Royal Bhutan Airlines flight heading to Mumbai, India, from Paro, Bhutan, had to make an emergency landing at the NSC Bose International Airport, Kolkata at 9:30 a.m. on June 15.
An official at NSC Bose International Airport said that the captain sought permission to make an emergency landing because the windshield of the aircraft cracked while the flight was underway.
Airport authorities also confirmed that the plane landed safely and all passengers and crew remained unharmed.
In reply to an RTI application filed by the Time of India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India, has revealed that between 2009 and February 2014, 165 pilots throughout the country were grounded after their pre-flight medical tests showed high levels of alcohol in their blood.
Among these, 50 pilots were from Delhi, 47 from Mumbai, 18 from Kolkata, and 17 from Chennai.
The statistics also showed that the number of pilots with higher-than-allowed level of alcohol in their blood has increased every year. In 2009, only 35 such cases were reported while in 2013, 41 pilots were found to have high blood alcohol levels.
The DGCA has not released the names of the airlines where these pilots work. According to official sources “The information pertains to third party, hence details cannot be provided according to the RTI Act.”
The civil aviation regulator of India has issued a directive, ordering the airlines to use real-time tracking for locating the planes.
In the directive, the Director General Prabhat Kumar has obligated the airlines to track all of their aircrafts with the on-board Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) or Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B). In areas where these two systems do not have coverage, the airlines will be required to devise other mechanisms to ensure real-time tracking. Operators will also need to ensure that the real-time tracking systems are in working condition before the flight.
The order has been issued in context of the preliminary report released by Malaysian authorities, which revealed that the flight 370 could not be located because the aircraft did not transmit its coordinates in real-time.
According to the statement released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), “While commercial air transport aircrafts spend considerable amount of time operating over remote areas, there is currently no international requirement for real time tracking of the aircraft. This uncertainty resulted in significant difficulty in locating the aircraft in a timely manner.”
A Delhi-bound private plane carrying Congress president Sonia Gandhi had to divert and make an emergency landing at Kheria airport in Agra on April 8.
The incident happened when the plane was taking Sonia Gandhi back to New Delhi, after she addressed multiple election meeting in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the officials, the decision for diverting the plane was made because the weather in Delhi was not suitable for landing. Sonia Gandhi had to wait about an hour in the airport’s VIP lounge, before she could continue her flight back to the national capital.
A Pakistani aircraft en-route to Dhaka from Lahore made an emergency landing in Lucknow due to a fuel shortage.
The aircraft, chartered by some unknown company safely landed at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in the afternoon of May 6.
The pilot of the aircraft informed the Lucknow air traffic control about the fuel shortage while flying over Uttar Pradesh. The ATC granted permission for landing after obtaining necessary clearances from all concerned.
The ATC officials said the aircraft was parked at a remote bay during the re-fuelling. All the passengers remained inside the plane.
Preliminary investigation of the Indian Air Force Lockheed C-130J-30 Super Hercules that crashed on Friday March 28, 2014, killing five, indicates that the accident may have been the result of wake turbulence.
The Hercules that crashed 72 miles from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh was in a twoship formation on a training mission when it flew into the wake turbulence of the lead aircraft. Because of the low altitude (300 feet), the crew could not establish control in order to avert the crash.
The mission was flying from Agra-Kheria Air Force Station to Gwalior Airport, India.
Although the findings reportedly rule out “technical error,” incidents resulting from wake turbulence (i.e. composed of wingtip vortices and jet wash) are generally considered pilot error. Jet wash gases from engines dissipate quickly, but vortices from the wings can last three minutes.
Although most incidents resulting from a plane flying in another’s wake turbulence are reported in takeoff and landing situations at airstrips, it is also a hazard in formation flying, so that planes in the far position must concentrate on staying on or above leader’s glide path. Vortices sink at a rate of 90 to 150 meters/minute
The ICAO has separation minima standards for take-off and landing.
A Hyderabad-bound Air India flight made an emergency landing immediately after take-off at Delhi airport on April 12.
The decision to land was made after some technical problems in the plane were discovered. The 131 passengers of the flight 560 faced some tense moments till landing safely. They later resumed their journey on another aircraft.
Also on board was a senior BJP leader, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, who has been aboard nine flights which made emergency landing in the past.
