Bird-hit scare grounds plane even before take-off

Ahmedabad: A bird-hit scare led the pilot of a Kolkata-bound flight from here to panic and apply emergency brakes seconds before take-off,
leading to two of its tyres bursting and a harrowing time for 180 passengers on board on Sunday afternoon. They had to wait for hours as tyres had to be flown in from Delhi as replacement.
The ordeal for the passengers on board the IndiGo flight, who were already in a state of shock, did not end here. Passengers were not taken to special passenger restrooms or shifted to hotels and were asked to wait in a lounge which did not have enough seating.
Passengers were seen sitting on trolleys, the floor and some on their baggage. When angry passengers approached some flight officials regarding a back-up plan, the officials replied that spare tyres for the Indigo flight would arrive by 9 pm and only after a technical team gives a go-ahead, the flight would take off. Many passengers were worried as the ground staff had to leave by late evening as their duty hours were over.
For R K Singh, 58, a professor at the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, who was coming from Pune it was a harrowing experience. "I had to reach Kolkata on time to catch a connecting train to Dhanbad. I have missed the train and now I have no facility or information on any connecting transport. What should I tell my family?" he asked.
27/10/08 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Oct 2008, Indigo Airlines Oct 2008, Safety Oct 2008