THIRUVANANTHAPUARAM: All 161 passengers and crew of an Air India flight arriving from Jeddah had a miraculous escape yesterday when one of the wings of the plane hit the runway while landing at the Calicut International Airport in Kerala.
The incident happened when the Jeddah-Calicut-Mumbai flight AI 962 was touching down at the airport at 9.40 a.m. Sources said that the tip of the Airbus 310’s right wing touched the edge of the runway. However, the plane was brought under control by the pilot and taxied to the apron.
“The wing suffered a little bit of damage at the edges and the flight has been grounded,” airport director in charge V.S.P. Chinsen said. The weather was normal and nothing unusual was there in the wind speed.
He said since the aircraft was touching down at a speed of over 200 km per hour, the passengers did have a miraculous escape. There were six other aircraft stationed at the airport during the landing.
The aircraft has been grounded and engineers from Mumbai were expected to arrive at the site for detailed check, he added. The airport director conducted a preliminary inquiry into the incident while the Air India and DGCA are also undertaking separate investigations.
