Spicejet flight to Srinagar returns after piece of tyre found on runway

As a precautionary measure and suspecting a tyre burst,the flight had to make a low flying pass for a visual inspection of the tyre before it was allowed to land,officials said.

Full emergency was declared at the airport at 1.18 pm and the SpiceJet (SG 224) flight,with 195 people on board,landed safely at 2.36 pm on the airport’s Runway-11,airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited said in a statement.

In a low flying pass,a flight is made to fly close to the runway and then take off without touching the ground.

Officials suspect the Boeing 737-800 had a de-capped wheel,when portions of the external rubber of the tyre came out after coming in contact with metallic or some other particles that may be lying on the runway.

After establishing that it was not a tyre-burst but a de-capping,the authorities asked the pilot to try a smooth sail landing at 2.36 pm. The safety measures mandated for a full emergency condition were put into practice.

All passengers of the aircraft were shifted to another plane and the emergency conditions were lifted at 3.35 pm. “Keeping the safety of passengers in mind the aircraft returned to Delhi. All passengers are safe,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said.

While aviation safety experts say it is normal for such de-capping of aircraft wheels at runways,it was also the same condition that led to one of the deadliest aviation disaster of an Air France Concorde in 2000.

Bird-hit grounds BA flight
A bird hit a British Airways flight on Monday morning at the IGI Airport due to which the evening flight to London was cancelled. The flight (BA 257),which landed at Delhi (coming from London) at 6 am on Monday,was examined by the engineer as a routine measure. The engineer found a bird inside the plane. While some passengers were adjusted on another flight,a few were provided accommodation for the night in a hotel.