An IndiGo aircraft suffered damage after being hit by a vulture at an altitude of around 4,000 feet on Monday and was forced to make an emergency landing.
An IndiGo aircraft suffered a bird hit and made an emergency landing at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport on Monday. The IndiGo aircraft was hit by a vulture at an altitude of around 4,000 feet, reported PTI, citing officials.
Around 175 passengers had a close shave after the incident. All the passengers and crew members are safe while the aircraft Airbus 320 suffered damage, the official said.
“An IndiGo flight suffered a bird hit near Ranchi. It was approximately 10 to 12 nautical miles away from here at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 feet when the incident occurred. The IndiGo flight was coming from Patna to Ranchi, and the pilot had to make an emergency landing here,” Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, Director R R Maurya told PTI.
He said all the passengers are safe, but the “aircraft suffered a dent after being hit by a vulture. Engineers are assessing the damage,” he said. The incident occurred at 1.14 pm, the report said.
The airline is yet to release a statement on the same.
Earlier on Sunday, an IndiGo aircraft, heading to Delhi from Raipur, was forced to circle in the air for a while. Due to dust storm, the pilot aborted landing last minute on Sunday evening and circled in the air for a while. It later landed safely at the Delhi airport.
Last month, a Srinagar-bound Indigo flight from Delhi with more than 220 people on board hit turbulence midair due to inclement weather, prompting the pilot to report the “emergency” to air traffic control at Srinagar. “Indigo flight 6E2142 enroute Delhi to Srinagar experienced bad weather (hail storm), emergency reported by Pilot to ATC SXR (Srinagar),” an official of the Airport Authority of India said.