Chennai, Oct 11 (UNI) High tension prevailed at the Trichy International airport on Friday as a Sharjah-bound Air India flight, with 141 passengers on board, developed a technical snag soon after take off, faced landing problems, before it safely landed after hovering in the air for nearly two and a half hours.
All the passengers and the crew, who were in a state of anxiety, had a providential escape as the pilots’ experience came to the fore in ensuring a safe landing at 2015 hrs.
“All the passengers were safe and none was hurt, though we are in a state of anxiety”,one of the passengers told a private Tamil Satellite channel, as he alighted from the flight, which was scheduled to land at Sharjah at 2030 hrs.
“There was no problem…the flight landed safely”, he said.
After taking off at 1740 hrs, the pilot noticed that the wheels did not retract and contacted the Air Traffic Control authorities for emergency landing.
But the flight could not land as the landing gear also created problem forcing the pilots to hover around Trichy and neighbouring areas for close to two and a half hours, emptied some quantity of fuel in the process, before making a safe landing, providing a sigh of relief for the passengers on board.
In a virtual state of emergency, the entire district administration has been put in a state of alert.
Security was tightened with the deployment of large number of police personnel to handle any emergency. Senior police officials and the district collector rushed to the airport. A total of 20 ambulances, including fire service and medical teams were placed on alert at the airport and kept in a state of readiness, as belly landing was planned.
Also all the government hospitals in the district were put on high alert and special beds were readied to meet any emergency by the administration.
However, the tension and anxiety that gripped the passengers and the crew finally ended after the aircraft made a safe landing, much to the relief of all.