A squall and a flier in distress gave passengers on board a flight from Mumbai a scare before the plane made it to Calcutta on Tuesday night.
The Airbus 320, carrying 155 passengers, flew into “severe turbulence” at 35,000ft about 200 nautical miles (370km) west of Calcutta, forcing the pilot to make a Mayday call to the air traffic control (ATC).
An airport official said the city ATC received the distress call from the pilot of the Indigo flight around 9.20pm, half an hour before it was scheduled to land.
“The pilot said he was unable to maintain altitude because of bad weather and unreliable air speed. He also said he had lost all automation and sought a priority landing,” said the official on Wednesday.
Automation refers to the aircraft’s automatic pilot system that became non-functional because of the turbulence.
The flight was then given “a continuous descent” by the ATC, which means the aircraft was allowed to descend steadily from the altitude at which there was turbulence. It was also given priority over other flights approaching Calcutta for landing.
The aircraft had come out of the turbulence without any structural damage and was approaching Calcutta, when the pilot made another call to the ATC around 9.30pm to declare a medical emergency.
“A 55-year-old passenger was bleeding from the rectum and was in distress. He had an existing problem and the aircraft being caught in turbulence did not trigger the bleeding,” said the official
21/04/11 The Telegraph
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