TN: Aircraft faces glitch after take-off; DGCA to probe fault

chennai: A Sharjah-bound Air India Express plane from Tiruchirappalli, shortly after departure on Friday evening, witnessed mid-air technical glitch and later landed safely, the police said.

Chief Minister MK Stalin held an emergency meeting with officials and directed them to follow all safety measures. Later, he congratulated the flight captain and crew for the safe landing.

After taking off at about 5:30 pm from the airport, the fault related to hydraulic systems, the landing gear, was noticed. Deftly handling the situation, the pilots later safely landed the aircraft in Tiruchirappalli airport.

The CM in a post on ‘X’ said: “I am heartened to hear that the #AirIndiaExpress flight has landed safely. Upon receiving news of the landing gear issue, I immediately coordinated an emergency meeting with officials over the phone and instructed them to implement all necessary safety measures, including deploying fire engines, ambulances, and medical assistance.”

Aviation regulator DGCA will conduct a thorough examination of the plane that suffered a hydraulic failure to ascertain the cause of the glitch. The aircraft carrying 141 people suffered a hydraulic failure soon after take-off and went around Trichy for nearly two-and-a-half hours before making a safe landing at Trichy airport.

In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the airport and emergency teams responded swiftly and effectively after a full emergency was declared at 1805 hours. The flight landed at 2015 hours.