Plane spotting boys dialed 100 to report aircraft was on fire

New Delhi: Five friends who were partying on a rooftop at south Delhi's Shivalik area in the wee hours of Sunday morning got the shock of their lives when they spotted a small fire in the engine of an aircraft flying overhead. At first they couldn't believe their eyes but immediately called the police helpline to report the incident.
The aircraft, an Air India AI 101 from Delhi to New York, was already preparing to make an emergency landing at the airport. Airline officials, while claiming that there was no fire in the engine, said that the pilot had reported a technical snag in the right engine shortly after take-off and had asked to return to Delhi.
"This was a long haul flight and with respect to safety it made sense for the pilot to return. The flight landed without any problem," said an airline official. Airport sources explained that since the aircraft had taken off for a long distance flight it was full of fuel and the weight of the aircraft would not have permitted it to land. "As is normal procedure in such cases, the pilot had to jettison the fuel out of the aircraft to reduce its weight. Only then would it have been able to land," said an official. The five friends, Himanshu Soni, Manan Soni, Kartik Bhandari, Jaideep Basni and Moulik Ghelani, who reported the incident were called back by Delhi police to thank them for their quick thinking.
23/07/11 Times of India

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Categories: Air India Jul 2011, Airports Jul 2011, Safety Jul 2011