NHTimes

Vasco, Jan 14: A major tragedy was averted at the Dabolim airport on Sunday morning due to the alertness of the pilot when a Goa-bound Thomson Airways chartered flight coming from London made an emergency landing at the airport as a result of a hydraulic failure.

All the 254 passengers on board were disembarked safely. The incident forced the authorities to close the international airport for landing and takeoff for about 70 minutes. A Monarch chartered flight which was supposed to land at the airport with 350 passengers on board was diverted to Mumbai. Flight operations were affected due to the closure of the runway.

According to highly placed sources, the pilot of the Goa-bound Thomson Airways flight made an emergency call to the air traffic control (ATC) room monitored by Indian Navy at around 9.40 a.m. stating that the aircraft had encountered a hydraulic failure. Sources informed that the hydraulic oil which came down into the nose wheel steering could have caused friction and thereby led to fire while the plane landed. As the flight made the emergency landing at around 10.15 a.m., fire tenders of the Indian Navy which were stationed close to the runway were activated and the situation was brought under control. The fire personnel noticed smoke from the plane’s wheels as they touched the ground.

As the pilot noticed that the nose wheel steering stopped the plane’s movement, it halted in the middle of the runway due to unavailability of a towing arm which is used to shift the aircraft from the middle of the runway. It was interesting to note that the designated partner of the chartered flight handling the ground staff - Air India - was not equipped with the towing arm to shift the plane from the middle of the runway in an emergency.

It was also observed that the Airports Authority of India did not make any effort to tow away the airline from the middle of the runway. All the 254 passengers on board were forced to disembark in the middle of the runway with the help of a ladder. The pilot later made attempts to shift the plane from the middle of the runway and the aircraft was subsequently moved to the tarmac. The incident has exposed the carelessness of the ground handling agencies at the Dabolim airport.