Patna11 hours ago
A major accident was averted in Patna on Sunday. The Spiget plane going from Patna airport to Delhi collided with a bird as soon as it took off. This caused a fire in the left engine. At that time the plane was at an altitude of 2000 feet. Pilot, Captain Monica Khanna, displayed prudence, first shutting down the engine which had caught fire and saving the lives of 185 passengers by landing the plane safely on the runway.
How the accident happened and how the plane was landed Read the full sequence… SpiceJet’s Chief Flight Operations Captain Gurcharan Arora said that SpiceJet’s Delhi flight SG 723 took off from Patna airport at 12.03 pm on Sunday, just a little while later. There was bird heating in his engine number one. The sound of the bird being hit was heard by Captain Monica Khanna and co-pilot Balpreet Singh Bhatia. Immediately after this, ATC gave a message to the captain and co-pilot that smoke was coming out of the left engine and flames were coming out.
Pilot Captain Monica looked at the Quick Research Hand Book under SOP and switched off the engine which was emitting smoke and fire. After this, the plane landing was done intelligently. In service flight, two engines are given so that in case of any mishap, the flight can be safely landed on one engine only. There is only one engine in a fighter plane, so if it fails, the pilot’s problem increases.
A major accident was averted due to the intelligence of pilot Monika Khanna.
Emergency declared for 40 minutes
As soon as the airport administration got information about the fire in the plane, emergency was declared. No landing and takeoff of any aircraft was done at the airport for 40 minutes. During this, about four-five flights kept circling in the air around Patna airport. Airport Director Anchal Prakash said that we got information about this from ATC. Anticipating any untoward incident, ambulances, fire tenders were deployed on the runway.
Monika Khanna saved the lives of 185 passengers.
A loud explosion in the plane as soon as it took off
There was a loud explosion in the plane as soon as it took off. All the passengers were shocked. The plane started hiccuping in the air. Passengers saw from the window that an engine was sparking. This caused an uproar. The pilot said that the situation is under control, do not panic, we are returning to Patna airport. Most of the 185 passengers were from Patna. After landing, 20 people canceled the journey. An empty plane from Delhi reached Patna at around 5.30 pm and left at 6 pm with 165 passengers.
Pilot Monica Khanna with her partner near the plane.
The plane was at an altitude of 2000 feet
At the time ATC saw the flames, the plane had gone beyond Khagaul at an altitude of about 2000 feet. The Captain immediately switched off the engine which caught fire and made a safe emergency land at 12:22 am. Flames were still rising from the plane at the time of landing. Several tall buildings of Phulwari Sharif, the plane, were saved from colliding with trees.
The plane’s left engine caught fire shortly after takeoff. The fire was extinguished after landing and the passengers were evacuated.
The aircraft had 185 passengers, four crew members, one pilot and one co-pilot. Everyone narrowly escaped. After the plane landed, all the passengers congratulated Captain Monica and said – Well done ma’am. Everyone’s life was saved because of you. The technical team of DGCA and SpiceJet has cited bird heating as the reason behind the incident. DGCA is probing the matter.
Remembering the accident of 22 years ago, people will be scared
After the SpiceJet flight caught fire, the family members of the passenger on board the plane were reminded of the plane crash in Patna 22 years ago in Gardnibagh. This made them even more scared.
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