Mangalore: A Dubai bound Indigo flight about to take off suffered a bird hit at the Mangalore International Airport in Karnataka on Thursday after which the flight was canceled, officials said. The passengers are safe and are being accommodated in another flight. An official said that the bird hit the wing of the plane on the runway, which was about to take off for Dubai at the airport this morning.
It is learnt that the IndiGo flight which was leaving for Dubai at 8.15 am was crossing the taxiway and was moving on the runway when the bird hit took place. Soon after the incident, the pilot immediately alerted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the airport. The ATC canceled the flight which returned from the runway.
Also read: Delhi-bound IndiGo flight diverted to Ahmedabad due to bird hit in Surat, says DGCA
The passengers are being accommodated in an alternate plane while the affected Indigo plane is being inspected by the technical team. The incident caused panic among the passengers at Mangalore Airport. Further details into the incident are awaited. It can be recalled that a similar bird hit incident had taken place at the Surat airport after a Delhi-bound IndiGo aircraft was diverted to Ahmedabad after a bird hit the plane during the takeoff at Surat.
The incident took place on Feb. 26 when Indigo A320 aircraft VT-IZI operating flight 6E-646(Surat - Delhi) was diverted to Ahmedabad due to a bird hit during climb at Surat. The aircraft later landed safely at Ahmedabad. Later, during subsequent ground inspection, the engine fan blades of Engine number 2 of the plane were observed to be damaged.
Accordingly, the aircraft was declared Aircraft on Ground (AOG) by the authorities.
