New Delhi: A Kolkata- bound Air Asia flight made an emergency landing at Lucknow airport after being hit by a bird during the take-off on Sunday, officials said.
"Air Asia flight return back to the Lucknow airport after aircraft suffered bird hit, aircraft was landed safely and all passengers are also safe," an airport official said. An Airbus aircraft of Air Aisa with around 180 passengers was deployed for the Kolkata operation, all of whom are safe, Air Asia said.
"Flight i5-319, scheduled to operate from Lucknow to Kolkata, encountered a bird-strike during the take-off roll. As a result, the aircraft returned to bay and was grounded for detailed inspection. Impacted guests were attended to and we are making all efforts to mitigate the impact on the integrity of other scheduled operations," said an Air Asia statement. "We apologise for the inconvenience caused due to circumstances beyond our control," it said.
The pilot of an Air Asia flight aborted take-off after a bird hit on the runway at around 11 am. This occurred before the flight could lift off. The aircraft returned to the bay and all the passengers were deboarded safely," spokesperson of the airport Rupesh Kumar said. He said there were over 180 passengers on the flight. Alternate arrangements were being made by the airline for the passengers," Kumar said.
Earlier, a helicopter carrying Sri Sri Ravi Shankar -- the founder of The Art of Living -- made an emergency landing. The landing was made in a tribal village called Ukiniyam located in the premises of the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) in Erode district of Tamil Nadu. It was because of the bad weather that the helicopter had to be landed under an emergency.Other than Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, there were three others on the chopper when it made the emergency landing due to inclement weather, police said. The private chopper landed at the playground of Okkiyam government school, near Kadambur in the district this morning, due to foggy conditions. All passengers have been reported safe. The helicopter took off after 50 minutes once the weather cleared.
