Wheel falls off at Nagpur, air ambulance makes belly landing in Mumbai
    Date :07-May-2021

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Staff Reporter :
 
All onboard, including a patient, were safe, tweeted Civil Aviation Minister
 
Social media was all praise for the pilot Capt Kesari Singh
 
 
After its wheel fell off after take-off from Nagpur airport, an air ambulance did a safe belly-landing at Mumbai airport on Thursday evening. Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, took to Twitter late night and stated that all onboard the air ambulance, including a patient, were safe. Initially, there were social media posts that an air ambulance from Nagpur to Hyderabad was diverted to Mumbai. However, later, details emerged that the Beechcraft VT-JIL air ambulance of Jet Serve Aviation had taken off from Bagdogra in West Bengal. It took a brief stop at Nagpur airport for refuelling on way to Mumbai.
 

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 The aircraft after belly landing on foam carpeting at Mumbai airport on Thursday night.
 
It arrived at Nagpur around 4.30 pm and left at 5.15 pm. The C-90 aircraft was carrying a patient, two crew members, a relative of the patient, and a doctor. However, after take-off from Nagpur airport, it lost its wheel. The pilot Capt Kesari Singh realised this and gave a distress call to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), Mumbai. He showed presence of mind and courage and burned a lot of fuel so that possibility of fire on landing the aircraft was minimised. CSMIA’s emergency response team including the fire and rescue responders, follow-me vehicles, Central Industrial Security Force, medical team etc were activated and kept on standby to provide immediate assistance to ensure safe evacuation of the passengers onboard the air ambulance.
 
As a precautionary measure, CSMIA also foamed Runway-27 to avoid the aircraft catching fire. The entire operation went on for three hours and the aircraft did a safe belly-landing on foam-carpeting at 9.09 pm. All passengers were evacuated safely and flights operating in and out of CSMIA remained on schedule. All through the operation, there was anxiety at CSMIA, Mumbai, and full emergency was declared there.
 
On landing, fire-fighters drenched the aircraft in foam. Later, the patient, whose name could not be ascertained till midnight, was shifted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai. Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Civil Aviation tweeted late night, “A Jet Serve Ambulance with a patient onboard lost a wheel during takeoff from Nagpur. Showing immense presence of mind Capt Kesari Singh belly landed the aircraft on foam carpeting in Mumbai. All onboard are safe. Commendable effort by @DGCAIndia @CSMIA_Official & other agencies.” Social media was all praise for Capt Kesari Singh.