New Delhi: On Thursday, an Air India flight that had taken off from Delhi airport returned back after the pilot informed the presence of the bat to Air Traffic Control (ATC).
As scheduled, the Air India flight to Newark (EWR) left Delhi’s IGI Airport at 2:20 am. After the plane was in the air for about 30 minutes, the bat was spotted. So the flight captain decided to take the plane back to the original base (Delhi).
“AI-105 DEL-EWR returned back to base (Delhi) after departure due to this local standby emergency was declared. On arrival, it was learnt that a bat was seen inside the cabin by crew members. Wildlife staff were called to catch and remove the bat from the cabin. The aircraft landed safely at around 3:55 am. Later flight was declared Aircraft on Grounded (AoG),” Air India officials told ANI.
According to the DGCA officials, fumigation was done and bat carcass was recovered from the aircraft.
“Air India B777-300ER aircraft VT-ALM operating Flight AI – 105 (Delhi- Newark) was involved in air-turn-back due to bat reported in the cabin by cabin crew after departure. Fuel was jettisoned and the aircraft landed safely at Delhi. After landing fumigation was carried out and a dead bat carcass was retrieved from seat 8DEF area,” a senior DGCA official told ANI.
The bat was found dead inside the plane in the business class area, the pilot said.
As the incident was reported a detailed inquiry is said to have to be done by the airline’s flight safety department.
A detailed report on the incident is also asked by the airline to the engineering team.
As the initial report submitted to flight safety by Air India’s engineering team stated that unwanted mammals came from third parties.
“The probable reason/cause may be loading vehicles like those for catering because all the time rats/bats come from their vehicle only,” an Air India official told.
The passengers were shifted to another plane and Air India flight AI-105 landed in Newark at 11:35 am local time.
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