Hyderabad: In perhaps the first instance of its kind, an Air India aircraft got damaged during take off as “runway material liberated” and severely impacted its underbelly and the rudder. The Airbus A321 (VT-PPN) was damaged while operating from Tirupati to Hyderabad this January and is since then parked at AI engineering facility in Hyderabad, awaiting repairs. The airline has sought damages from Airports Authority of India (AAI).
“While on final take off roll, the runway surface material liberated and hit the aircraft in its underbelly and rudder. (The liberated material hit the plane possibly under the impact of jet blast and being thrown up by the wheels). The A321 took off and landed safely in Hyderabad. While we were taking a round and doing a visual inspection of the aircraft before releasing it for the next flight out of Hyderabad, we saw the severe damages,” said N S Chakraborty, deputy GM of AI engineering subsidiary’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Hyderabad.
Immediately after observing the damages -- which Chakraborty says are possibly the first of its kind -- the aircraft was taken to the Hyderabad AI MRO at the airport and is since then parked there, awaiting repairs. A team from Airbus recently came to inspect the aircraft.
“They said it was a good fortune that the plane was able to land safely after such damages. The Airbus technical expert has carried out structural integrity tests and will send us a report,” said an MRO official.
The impact was so severe that aircraft rudder, elevator and underbelly suffered cracks. The rudder had holes. According to Skybrary website, “rudder is a primary flight control surface which controls rotation about the vertical axis of an aircraft. This movement is referred to as ‘yaw’…. rudder is not used to steer the aircraft; rather, it is used to overcome adverse yaw induced by turning or, in the case of a multi-engine aircraft, by engine failure and also allows the aircraft to be intentionally slipped when required.”
22/05/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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“While on final take off roll, the runway surface material liberated and hit the aircraft in its underbelly and rudder. (The liberated material hit the plane possibly under the impact of jet blast and being thrown up by the wheels). The A321 took off and landed safely in Hyderabad. While we were taking a round and doing a visual inspection of the aircraft before releasing it for the next flight out of Hyderabad, we saw the severe damages,” said N S Chakraborty, deputy GM of AI engineering subsidiary’s maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Hyderabad.
Immediately after observing the damages -- which Chakraborty says are possibly the first of its kind -- the aircraft was taken to the Hyderabad AI MRO at the airport and is since then parked there, awaiting repairs. A team from Airbus recently came to inspect the aircraft.
“They said it was a good fortune that the plane was able to land safely after such damages. The Airbus technical expert has carried out structural integrity tests and will send us a report,” said an MRO official.
The impact was so severe that aircraft rudder, elevator and underbelly suffered cracks. The rudder had holes. According to Skybrary website, “rudder is a primary flight control surface which controls rotation about the vertical axis of an aircraft. This movement is referred to as ‘yaw’…. rudder is not used to steer the aircraft; rather, it is used to overcome adverse yaw induced by turning or, in the case of a multi-engine aircraft, by engine failure and also allows the aircraft to be intentionally slipped when required.”
22/05/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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