Indian aircraft skids off runway at Delhi's IGI airport

An Indian (Airlines) aircraft skidded off the runway at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport blocking the runway till the time it was towed off in the wee hours. While the aircraft suffered some damage, all the passengers and crew escaped unhurt. According to sources, flight IC-402, an A-320 aircraft from Kolkata to Delhi with 124 passengers and six crew on the board, experienced a hydraulic snag on approach to Delhi airport around 11 pm. While the aircraft made a clean landing, it skidded a few feet off the runway after the speed slowed down. The hydraulic snag had made it difficult for the pilot to manoeuvre the nose-wheel of the plane. All the passengers and crew were safely offloaded within 15 minutes, sources said. What saved the day was the fact that the incident occurred late at night as a similar incident during peak-hours could have led to severe congestion at the airport. The aircraft was towed off at 5 am after a team from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted an inspection. The airline’s officials, when contacted, said the aircraft had not suffered much damage and would be pressed into service soon. Indian has 48 A-320 aircraft in its fleet, of which, it owns 30 and 18 are leased.

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