Mumbai-Delhi flight sent back from runway

Some passengers de-boarded the plane after it was delayed for nearly four hours at the runway on Wednesday

A Mumbai-Delhi Air India flight (886) faced an unexpected delay of four hours on Wednesday after developing a technical snag while it was about to take off.
Aviation experts raised concerns, stating that a flight does not go on the runway before the clearance from the engineers.

"This generally does not happen as the aircraft is always cleared by the engineers first before the pilot gets a pushback and taxi clearance from the Air Traffic Control (ATC). Here, two points need to be investigated: Was the aircraft actually thoroughly checked by the engineers? And did the aircraft develop a technical snag after the engineers cleared it?" A senior flight instructor and staffer told mid-day.

The plane was on the runway and was about to take off when it was brought back to the bay. Pic/X

According to the people aware of the matter, the flight had made it to the runway but was taken back to the bay, where engineers addressed the issue. The exact nature of the technical snag, however, remained unknown till the time of going to press.

The passengers were informed about the delay after the aircraft returned to the bay, leaving many unsure about their revised travel plans.

"Extremely frustrating experience as our flight had to return to the bay. The crew told us that there was some technical issue with the aircraft but refused to disclose what exactly it was," said a passenger requesting anonymity.

A query sent to Air India went unanswered till the time of going to the press. Meanwhile, sources informed that a few passengers voluntarily deboarded the plane, causing further delay.

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale was also on the plane, which was scheduled to take off at 9 am.

"Air India should have arranged for another aircraft to fly passengers to their destination, especially after such a technical issue. However, the airline's failure to do so kept passengers, including me, confined to the aircraft for hours," Athawale said.

Angered by mismanagement, the minister said, "I would be lodging a formal complaint with the Civil Aviation Minister, Rammohan Naidu." He emphasised that when there is a technical fault, passengers should be immediately transferred to another aircraft and labeled Air India's handling of the situation as "gross negligence."

9 am
Time the flight was scheduled to take off