New Delhi: An Air India flight had to make a precautionary landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Monday morning after a transponder defect was detected. The Delhi-Chicago flight, a Boeing 777, returned within three hours of take off.
Air traffic control (ATC) uses an aircraft’s transponder to identify it and aircrafts with defective transponders are not allowed to enter the European airspace, prompting the Air India flight to return.
The incident, airport sources said, was reported at 2.15 am when the flight AI 127 was scheduled for take off to Chicago. Sources said that there were 313 passengers and 16 crew members on board.
“The flight took off at 2.15 am but when it entered Afghanistan airspace, it developed a snag in its transponder whereby the signal transmitted by the ATC to the aircraft was not visible in the radar. The transponder assists ATC in identifying aircraft within its radar and can give collision warning to the pilot if it gets dangerously close to another aircraft in air. Though pilots are in constant touch with the ATC, the transponder helps give distress signals in case of an emergency,” a senior airport official said.
11/03/14 Indian Express
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Air traffic control (ATC) uses an aircraft’s transponder to identify it and aircrafts with defective transponders are not allowed to enter the European airspace, prompting the Air India flight to return.
The incident, airport sources said, was reported at 2.15 am when the flight AI 127 was scheduled for take off to Chicago. Sources said that there were 313 passengers and 16 crew members on board.
“The flight took off at 2.15 am but when it entered Afghanistan airspace, it developed a snag in its transponder whereby the signal transmitted by the ATC to the aircraft was not visible in the radar. The transponder assists ATC in identifying aircraft within its radar and can give collision warning to the pilot if it gets dangerously close to another aircraft in air. Though pilots are in constant touch with the ATC, the transponder helps give distress signals in case of an emergency,” a senior airport official said.
11/03/14 Indian Express
