New Delhi: A Delhi bound SpiceJet flight, with 185 passengers on board, was forced to make an emergency landing on Sunday at Patna airport after its left wing caught fire midway.
The incident took place after the aircraft suffered a bird hit moment after it take-off from Patna airport.
Chandrashekhar Singh, Patna’s District Magistrate (DM) said, “The Delhi-bound flight had taken off at 12:10 pm. The fire was reported on its left wing soon after. The district and airport officials were informed by the locals who had noticed the fire.”
The DM said that all 185 passengers were safely deboarded.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that the wing was hit by a bird and one engine shut down in the air which caused the incident.
SpiceJet in a statement said, “On takeoff, during rotation, cockpit crew suspected bird hit on Engine number 1. As a precautionary measure and as per SOP, Captain shutdown the affected engine and decided to return to Patna.”
A video of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft emitting smoke was shared by various users on twitter.
On 20 May, an Air India flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru had to return to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport just 27 minutes after taking off due to one of its engines shutting down mid-flight due to a technical snag.