Delhi-bound IndiGo flight suffers bird hit after takeoff, returns to Guwahati

A third one in the day - a Delhi-bound IndiGo flight made an emergency landing on Sunday (June 20) at the Guwahati airport soon after it took off, with bird hit being cited as the reason.

A total of 3 flights made an emergency landing in the country yesterday (June 20). Later in the evening, an IndiGo flight that was plying on its way to Delhi from Guwahati made an emergency landing at the Guwahati airport right after the takeoff. A suspected bird hit is reported to be the cause of the mishap. All the passengers of the Delhi-bound flight were then accommodated on another flight while the aircraft was taken-over for inspection. "IndiGo Airbus A320neo (VT-ITB) operating flight 6E 6394 from Guwahati-Delhi returned to Guwahati airport, due to a suspected bird hit after takeoff. All passengers were accommodated on another flight to Delhi. The aircraft is being held on the ground for necessary inspections," the IndiGo officials said in a statement.

This was the third such incident in a day when a flight made an emergency landing. Earlier on Sunday evening, a Jabalpur-bound SpiceJet flight landed back at the Delhi Airport after it failed to regain the cabin pressure differential even after attaining a height of 6,000 feet. According to a statement by the spokesperson of the airline, the cabin pressure differential was unable to be built up as the altitude of the cabin rose from the ground.

Earlier, in another incident concerning the airline, a SpiceJet Boeing 737 with about 185 people on board passengers returned safely to Patna soon after an emergency landing on Sunday afternoon following the reports of a fire in one of the engines.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials said that the plane (VT-SYZ), prima facie, was involved in air turnback as the cabin crew informed PIC about sparks coming out of the engine. During the rotation, the cockpit crew suspected a bird hit on the engine. Later, the crew did not observe any abnormality and the flight resumed further climb. "The flight returned back after a bird hit and due to one engine shut in the air, all on-board passengers safe," the officials added.

On Sunday afternoon, a Delhi-bound SpiceJet aircraft made an emergency landing at Patna airport after there were reports of a technical glitch which prompted fire inside the plane. All the passengers were safely rescued.

"The Delhi-bound flight had returned to Patna airport after locals noticed a fire in the aircraft and informed district and airport officials. All 185 passengers were safely deboarded. The reason is a technical glitch, engineering team analysing further," said Chandrashekhar Singh, Patna District Magistrate told media persons.

With inputs from ANI