Alliance AIR’S woes with its Leh operations continued with yet another of its flights — chartered to move Army personnel — being grounded today at Leh airport after one of its engines failed.It is understood that the plane which left Delhi to bring back Army personnel developed a technical snag. Engineers and equipment, officials said, will be flown from Delhi on Saturday to repair it. This is the second time in two weeks that an Alliance Air craft has faltered while operating from Leh. On May 23, an aircraft — again chartered by the Army — damaged its tyres while taking off and had to make an emergency landing at New Delhi’s IGIA. While technical snags can happen, official sources said, it was the frequency with which such incidents have been happening that raises concern. ‘‘Tyre damage, engine failure, what next? Are their planes capable of handling the task they have undertaken,’’ said an official on condition of anonymity. According to civil aviation experts, planes operating to and from Leh need to be doubly checked. Apparently, there is a tendency among operators to just reschedule any of the flights without considering whether the aircraft is fit for high altitude conditions at Leh.
