AAIB team inspects grounded aircraft AI VT-PPT in city
| Date :13-Nov-2019 |
Staff Reporter :
Raipur
AIIB team led by Ajay Sinha retrieves the aircraft’s black box for analysis; also suggests imminent engine replacement
DGCA Dy Director R K Anand made similar suggestion after in-dept inspection of aircraft along with AI Flight Safety and AI Engineering team
Efforts are on at swift pace to operationalise the 180-seater Air India (AI) VT-PPT aircraft, which had been grounded at Swami Vivekananda Airport (SVA) since November 8. However, it would take more than a fortnight time to make the aircraft air worthy once again. It is pertinent here to recall that the over-flying aircraft, an Airbus-321, had to make an emergency landing here in Raipur after a fire alarm in its left engine was detected by the flight captain, while it was en-route to Mumbai from Bhubaneshwar at an altitude of over 30,000 to 35,000 feet of Chhattisgarh airspace. Around 180 passengers and nine crew members were on-board, when the aircraft landed here at the SVA.
“Indeed, the snag was major in the aircraft. For the reasons, a team from Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Ministry of Civil Aviation, New Delhi led by Ajay Sinha, which inspected the plane, took along with them the flight’s Black Box comprising Cockpit Voice Recorder and Data Recorder for analysis,” a reliable source in Airports Authority of India (AAI) at SVA told ‘The Hitavada’ requesting anonymity. According to this source, the AAIB team during the intense inspection of the aircraft, which lasted for over 7 hours, was duly accompanied by delegates Air India Flight Safety and Air India Engineering team. “While AAIB team headed by Sinha recommended for replacing the faulty engine with new one, R K Anand, Deputy Director, Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA), Zonal Office, Bhopal, also put forth similar suggestion during his inspection of the aircraft,” the source maintained.
AAI sources, in the meantime, also affirmed that the Air India Engineering team from New Delhi, which arrived here on November 9 and had been camping since, have already begun the maintenance work to restore the aircraft with available maintenance staff in Raipur, in accordance to tentative plan of action, cleared by AAIB and DCGA to replace the faulty engineer. “All the necessary equipment and tools have been dispatched by road from Delhi and Mumbai for taking up the engine replacement work and it is expected to reach Raipur on or before Nov 14,” the sources said.
As per the plan, if sources are to believed, one Airbus 319 aircraft will be routed to Raipur on November 15 for the engine change. “We will remove one of the engines of this aircraft and install on grounded aircraft (VT-PPT) after which the Airbus 319 aircraft will be grounded at Raipur till new engine comes by road transport, same will be intimated later,” the sources added. Sources also affirmed that the grounded aircraft has been shifted to Parking Stand-8 of the SVA since the AAI needed all remaining seven aprons for flight operations.
Earlier, after the flight was grounded, it was moved to Parking Stand-7. Air India, the flight operator is incurring parking fee of nearly Rs 1000 per day from SVA till it is air-borne again. “Only after the new engine is installed, the DGCA team will again inspect the aircraft and thereafter issue it air worthiness certificate. This whole process would take more than 15 days time,” the sources said. Meanwhile, Raipur Airport Director Rakesh Ranjan Sahay asserted that they are extending all sorts of technical and mechanical support needed by the Air India Engineering team for restoring the aircraft, till it flies back to air once again.