Mumbai: Two Air India pilots flying on the Mumbai-Jodhpur-Jaipur-Mumbai route were forced to return and make precautionary landings twice within a span of seven hours on Saturday, as wheels of two A320 Classic aircraft—termed "lethal, snag-prone" by a pilots' union—failed to retract post take-offs.
For the past two years, an AI pilots' union has been demanding that A320 Classics, which are over 20 years old, be grounded.
It all started around 11 am when the pilots of AI 645 faced a technical problem soon after they took off from Mumbai. "Since the undercarriage assembly of the A320 classic couldn't be retracted, the aircraft had to return as per standard operating procedures," said a source. Given that the 168-seater aircraft was loaded with fuel to safely last the journey, an overweight landing was carried out at the Mumbai airport. Then the aircraft was grounded.
The passengers were moved to another aircraft, again an A320 classic. The second aircraft departed at 12.45 pm, landed safely in Jodhpur and then departed for Jaipur and landed there safely too without any problem around 4 pm. By now, flight AI 645 was three-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
12/02/17 Times of India
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For the past two years, an AI pilots' union has been demanding that A320 Classics, which are over 20 years old, be grounded.
It all started around 11 am when the pilots of AI 645 faced a technical problem soon after they took off from Mumbai. "Since the undercarriage assembly of the A320 classic couldn't be retracted, the aircraft had to return as per standard operating procedures," said a source. Given that the 168-seater aircraft was loaded with fuel to safely last the journey, an overweight landing was carried out at the Mumbai airport. Then the aircraft was grounded.
The passengers were moved to another aircraft, again an A320 classic. The second aircraft departed at 12.45 pm, landed safely in Jodhpur and then departed for Jaipur and landed there safely too without any problem around 4 pm. By now, flight AI 645 was three-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
12/02/17 Times of India
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