Chennai: The wheels of an Air India Express flight to Dubai from Tiruchirappalli or Trichy in Tamil Nadu hit the airport's compound wall while taking off with 130 passengers on Friday.
Nobody was hurt in the incident and the aircraft landed in Mumbai at 5:35 am after being in flight for four hours, officials said.
The pilots of the aircraft have been "derostered" pending investigation, Air India Express said in a statement.
"Flight IX-611 took off from Trichy for Dubai around 1.30 am Friday. It was reported by Trichy airport officials that they have observed that the aircraft might have come in contact with the airport perimeter wall," the airline stated.
"The matter was conveyed to the pilot in command. The pilot in command reported that the aircraft systems were operating normally," it added.
It was decided to divert the aircraft to Mumbai as a precautionary measure, the airline said.
"The flight diverted to Mumbai and landed safely around 5.35 am in Mumbai, and taxied on its own power to the parking stand," it said.
Damaged Air India flight flew for 3 hours before being diverted to Mumbai
— NDTV (@ndtv) October 12, 2018
Read here: https://t.co/bSJS9hlOCV pic.twitter.com/lH6CC5TK0b
"The 130 passengers and six crew members on-board the aircraft were alighted safely. No one suffered any injuries," according to the Air India Express statement.
Relief aircraft
It said a relief aircraft and a fresh crew was arranged to continue the flight from Mumbai to Dubai.
"The pilot in command, Captain D Ganesh Babu, has a flying experience on the B737 aircraft of 3,600 hours, including about 500 hours as commander.
"The First Officer, Captain Anurag, has an experience of about 3,000 hours on the B737. The two pilots have been derostered pending investigation," it said.
The matter has been reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the airline is cooperating in the investigation, the statement said.
Officials said DGCA is probing the matter and the damage to the aircraft is being assessed.
Tamil Nadu Minister Vellamandi Natrajan visited the spot and inspected the damages to the wall, adjacent to a state highway.
While the damage to the Boeing B737-800 airplane's wheels is not known, a portion of the compound wall has been damaged.
Trichy- Dubai Air India flight with 136 passengers on board hit the ATC compound wall at Trichy Airport yesterday and was diverted to Mumbai. The flight had got damaged under the belly, was declared fit for operations after inspection at Mumbai Airport. pic.twitter.com/8cczII46Mp
— ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2018
Officials at the airport police station told IANS that the compound wall was around five feet.
Trichy is about 350 km from Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
