IndiGo flight makes emergency landing after bird hit; all passengers safe

A Ranchi-bound IndiGo flight made an emergency landing at the Ranchi airport on Monday after being hit by vulture at around 4,000 feet altitude

A Ranchi-bound IndiGo flight made an emergency landing at Ranchi's Birsa Munda Airport on Monday after being hit by a vulture at around 4,000 feet altitude, an official said, as quoted by PTI.

 

He added that all the passengers and crew members in the aircraft are safe. However, the incident that occurred at 1.14 pm, caused some damages to the aircraft — Airbus 320.

 

"An IndiGo flight suffered a bird hit near Ranchi. It was approximately 10 to 12 nautical miles away from here at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet when the incident occurred. The IndiGo flight was coming from Patna to Ranchi, and the pilot had to make an emergency landing here," R R Mourya, director of Birsa Munda Airport, told PTI.

 

The aircraft was later scheduled to go to Kolkata, another official said. 

 

The incident comes a day after an IndiGo flight from Raipur to Delhi encountered severe turbulence due to a sudden dust storm as it approached the national capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport, eventually forcing the pilot to abort landing at the last minute. The pilot said that the wind speed was upto 80 km per hour, therefore he discontinued the approach and climbed back until the weather cleared.

 

Similarly, on May 21, another IndiGo flight from Delhi to Srinagar faced extreme turbulence due to a hailstorm, resulting in visible damage to the aircraft's nose. The flight was denied permission to divert into Pakistani airspace to evade thunderstorms, and it made an emergency landing at the Srinagar airport.