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AirAsia flight grounded after suffering bird hit at Ranchi airport

Ranchi: Within 24 hours of the plane crash in Kerala’s Kozhikode airport, which claimed lives of two pilots and 16 others, a Mumbai-bound AirAsia flight was grounded after it suffered a bird hit at the Birsa Munda International Airport here.

According to airport officials, AirAsia flight I5-632 was scheduled to take off at 11.40am with 176 passengers on board.

Soon after the aircraft got the go ahead signal from the Air Traffic Control and it was rolling on the runway for take-off, the aircraft suffered a bird hit. The alert pilots immediately decided to abort the take-off.

A team of engineers rushed to the aircraft and inspected it for more than two hours. The aircraft couldn’t succeed in the second take-off effort as the pilot detected sparks from the engine while testing the throttle minutes before the take-off.

After witnessing a spark from engine during the second take-off, the airport authorities and airline officials decided to ground the aircraft.

Talking to TOI, Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar Sharma said, “The aircraft has been grounded after it suffered a bird hit and developed a technical snag in its second take-off attempt. It suffered a bird hit during its scheduled take-off and the after a detailed technical evaluation, it was allowed to take-off around 4:30pm when a minor spark was detected from the engine. All passengers were deboarded.”

On being asked about alternative arrangements for the passengers, Sharma said the airline is arranging an aircraft from Kolkata to ferry them to Mumbai.

Sharma added that none of the passengers on board suffered any kind of injury. An AirAsia release said, “AirAsia India prioritises the safety of our guests and crew and regrets the inconvenience caused on account of this delay.”

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