At a time when the Indian aviation regulator is investigating several mishaps in recent times, another mishap was narrowly avoided on Tuesday as a car belonging to Go First airline went under an IndiGo aircraft at the Delhi airport on Tuesday and barely missed colliding with the plane's nose wheel, according to sources.
The regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will investigate the incident that happened at stand number 201 of the airport's T2 terminal, said officials.
In videos that surfaced online, the car can be seen dangerously close to the nose wheel of the aircraft. Aviation industry sources added that there was no damage to the plane and no one was injured.
Officials said the car's driver was subjected to breath analyser test for consumption of alcohol and it was found to be negative.
The aircraft was readying to depart for Patna when the incident happened, as per sources, who added that the car involved was a Swift Dzire.
They added the plane departed for Patna on schedule.
IndiGo and Go First did not respond to PTI's request for statements on this incident.
This is the latest incident to go under the DGCA scanner, which is already investigating a string of mishaps in recent past, several of those happened in quick succession. Some of the incidents and actions taken by DGCA are listed here:
- The DGCA on Wednesday ordered airline SpiceJet to operate only 50 per cent of flights for next eight weeks. Business Standard reported that the order came after "an unusually high number of incidents involving the airline, raising safety concerns".
On July 6, the DGCA issued a show-cause notice following at least eight incidents of technical malfunction in SpiceJet's aircraft since June 19. One of the incidents happened on July 5 when Delhi-Dubai flight was diverted to Karachi due to a malfunctioning fuel indicator. Its Kandla-Mumbai flight also did priority landing in Mumbai after cracks developed on its windshield mid-air.
- A trainer aircraft crashed in Maharashtra's Pune district on July 25. DGCA ordered an inquiry into the accident. The pilot survived but was injured.
- On July 17, IndiGo's Sharjah-Hyderabad flight was diverted to Karachi as a precaution after pilots observed a defect in an engine. In a separate incident on the same day, Air India Express's Calicut-Dubai flight was diverted to Muscat after a burning smell was observed in the cabin mid-air.
- Indigo is under invsetigation for a July 14 incident when Delhi-Vadodara flight was diverted to Jaipur out of precaution as vibrations were observed in the engines.
- A live bird was found in the cockpit of Air India Express' Bahrain-Kochi flight on July 15. The bird was found in the glove compartment on co-pilot's side when the plane was at 37,000 feet altitude. The DGCA is investigating the incident.
- On July 5, an engine of a Vistara aircraft on way from Bangkok failed after it landed at the Delhi airport.
- On July 5, the cabin crew of an IndiGo's Raipur-Indore flight observed smoke in the plane after it landed at its destination.
- On July 2, a SpiceJet flight heading to Jabalpur returned to Delhi after the crew members observed smoke in the cabin at around 5,000 feet altitude.
- Fuselage door warnings lit up on two separate SpiceJet planes while taking off on June 24 and June 25, forcing them to abandon their journeys and return.
- On June 19, an engine on SpiceJet's Delhi-bound aircraft carrying 185 passengers caught fire soon after the take-off from Patna airport and the plane made an emergency landing minutes later. The engine malfunctioned because of a bird hit.
- On June 19, a SpiceJet flight for Jabalpur had to return to Delhi due to cabin pressurisation issues.
(With PTI inputs)
