Snag in flight throws passengers into tizzy

Kolkata: Passengers landing at the city airport were gripped by a sense of fear as they felt a sudden jerk when the Singapore Airlines flight in which they were travelling, suddenly came to a halt on the runway with a loud sound.

The 200-odd passengers had to wait for more than half an hour before they could come out of the flight.

According to sources in the airport, the Singapore Airlines SQ 516 landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport at around 10.28 pm on Saturday night, but passengers could not vacate the flight as it had developed a hydraulic snag. The hydraulic leakage resulted in drainage of fuel from the flight on the runway.

A senior official said that the snag had developed a few minutes before the flight was scheduled to land, when the fuel started leaking. As it landed, the nose wheel of the flight got locked and the flight came to a halt with a sudden jerk. The pilot stopped the engine of the airline to mitigate any risk. After sometime, the flight was towed across the runway by a special vehicle. "The passengers could not be taken near the aerobridge. They were brought out of the airport in a special bus," a source informed.

A spokesperson of the airport, however, said that there was not much of a problem as the alternate runway was handed over for operation soon. "There was no impact on any other flight as the alternate runway was put in use. The runway was handed over back for operation after being vacated, proper cleaning of the fuel leakage and inspection," the spokesperson said.