Bird hits, technical problems delay two Air India flights

In two separate incidents on Wednesday, two Air India flights were delayed in India.

An Air India flight from Mumbai to Delhi via Jaipur was delayed by about 20 minutes after a bird hit it during landing at Sanganer Airport here, without causing any damage to the aircraft.

The plane landed safely on terminal 2 of the airport but its onward journey to Delhi was delayed by about 20 minutes, sources at the airport director's office told PTI.

No damage was caused to the aircraft and all passengers were safe, they said, adding that 84 passengers left for Delhi after thorough check up and technical approval.

The flight landed here around 10:35 am, and took off at 12:05 pm, about 20 minutes late, they said.

Meanwhile, a Dharamshala-bound Air India plane with 35 passengers and crew onboard was forced to abort take-off when pilots experienced some problems in the engine and a warning light came on in the cockpit while it was in taxiway.

The AI 9813 flight was originally scheduled to take off at 9.45 AM but was delayed due to bad weather at destination and rescheduled at 12.30 PM.

When the ATR Turboprop plane was being pushed back for taxiway, "pilots experienced some problem with its engine and decided to return to bay for necessary check and rectification of fault, as Dharamshala being the hilly terrain, the pilots didn't want to take risk," an Air India spokesperson said.

However, airport sources said the plane had to return after getting a warning of doors not being properly closed.

The fault was checked and rectified and the plane finally took off for Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh after an hour at 1.35 PM, the spokesperson said.
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