Times of India, Mumbai, Sunday, October 24, 2010
Jet aircraft grazes Kingfisher plane at city airport
Stalled AI Flight Causes Delays
Chinmayi Shalya | TNN
Mumbai: It was a chaotic Friday night at Mumbai airport as two major mishaps threw services out of gear and raised questions about passenger safety. Barely hours after an Air India aircraft from London carrying 272 passengers reported a hydraulic failure immediately after landing at 11.12 pm and blocked key taxiways, a Muscat-bound Jet Airways Boeing 737 grazed a Kingfisher Airbus parked next to it at 2.05 am.
While pushing back, the left wing of the Jet Airways flight 9W540 with more than 90 passengers on board brushed against the left hand stabilizer under the tail of the Kingfisher aircraft. The flyers were asked to disembark as officials assessed the damage. They left over an hour later.
Planes are bound to follow well-designated paths while moving on ground. The near-collision of two planes is a cause for concern in the country’s busiest airport.
The 272 passengers onboard AI-130 also suffered a traumatic hour as they were not allowed to get off until emergency services had extinguished the smoke coming from the landing gear. Two main taxiways were blocked, causing arrivals and departures to be delayed by over an hour. Seven flights were diverted.