Curry powder forces flight to return

Mumbai: In the past, ripe mangoes and smelly durians have done it. On Friday, it was a bag of curry powder in the baggage hold of a passenger plane that triggered the fire alarm and forced the pilots to turn and head right back to Mumbai airport.
It happened soon after the Air India Mumbai-Frankfurt flight 191 took off at 12.50 am with 229 passengers on board. An airline official said, "The pilots activated the fire-suppression system in the cargo hold area. Since the nature and cause of fire was not known the pilots decided to turn back the Boeing 747 and land". The plane landed in Mumbai at 2.30 am and the passengers accommodated in a hotel.
The official said, "A thorough check of cargo hold revealed no smoke or fire (but) a pungent smell from a bag of spice powder (which) was supposed to have triggered the alarm."
An Air India spokesperson said the curry powder, which belonged to a passenger from Ahmedabad, was removed and the flight took off for Frankfurt again at 1.50pm.
False alarms are rare in Boeing 747s. But there have been a number of instances of fire sensors of Boeing 777 being set off due to its heightened sensitivity.
In 2004, a Mumbai-London Air India flight was diverted and made an emergency landing near Bucharest after an alarm went off in its cockpit. As no fire or smoke was detected on inspection, the ground officials surmised it must be the strong smelling consignment of mangoes in the cargo hold that triggered the alert.
14/06/09 Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India - International Jun 2009, Foreign Jun 2009, NACIL Jun 2009, Safety Jun 2009