Mohali, April 15
Social media was abuzz today after a passenger on a flight of a private airline operating from Ayodhya to Delhi on April 13 complained of a harrowing experience with “low fuel, around one or two-minute flying time left” before the flight disembarked at the SBSI Airport here.
The scheduled departure time was 3:25 pm and arrival 4.30 pm.
“Around 4.15 pm, the pilot announced that there’s bad weather at the Delhi airport and assured that the plane had 45 minutes of holding fuel. The pilot attempted landing twice, but couldn’t due to bad weather... At 5.30 pm, the pilot announced that he’ll finally attempt landing at Chandigarh. By that time, a lot of passengers and one of the crew staff started puking out of panic. Finally, the plane managed to land at 6.10 pm at the Chandigarh airport after a lapse of 115 minutes since the 45 minutes holding-fuel announcement. Got to know from the crew staff that we’ve landed in the nick of time with only 1 or 2 minutes of fuel left,” the user posted on social media.
“What an ordeal it was for the passengers. DGCA, MoCA, GoI kindly enquire if all SOPs were followed or was it the narrowest escape,” the user added.
In a statement, an airline spokesperson said, “The flight operating between Ayodhya and Delhi on April 13 was diverted to Chandigarh due to bad weather in Delhi. The captain executed a go-around, which is in line with the SOP. This is an absolutely safe maneuver. The aircraft had sufficient fuel at all times to divert to an alternative airport, as per regulations.”
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