AI plane hit by stone, Jet blast to blame

New Delhi: On Sunday evening, an Air India A-321aircraft was damaged when, during a jet blast from a Jet Airways flight in front of it, a 'foreign object' from the ground hit its windshield. The flight, carrying 162 passengers, had to return to the parking bay where passengers were made to board another aircraft.
The flight — Delhi-Mumbai IC 683 — was in line for take-off at the taxiing bay around 5pm when the pilot of Jet Airways flight 9W 334 from Delhi to Mumbai applied throttle. The ensuing blast from the engine was so powerful that some foreign material, stones and dust flung onto and cracked the windshield of the Air India aircraft.
"With the aircraft damaged, there was no way we could have operated it. It was turned back to the bay and passengers were made to disembark. Later, we arranged for another aircraft which flew the passengers to Mumbai. Instead of its scheduled departure at 5pm, the flight finally took off at 7.30pm," said an Air India official.
According to sources, the taxiway where the incident occurred was cluttered with small stones and other construction material due to ongoing work at taxiway Echo.
While Jet Airways did not officially comment on the issue, sources said the maintenance of the airside was in a highly poor condition and the accident could have been avoided had the taxiway been clear.
28/12/09 Neha Lalchandani/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Domestic Dec 2009, Airports Dec 2009, Jet Airways Dec 2009, NACIL Dec 2009, Safety Dec 2009