Aircraft A-320 makes emergency landing after a snag in its nose wheel
NEW DELHI: Over 100 passengers of low-cost airline GoAir got a high-voltage shock on Thursday when their aircraft made a tumultuous emergency landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport after a snag in its nose wheel. The flight was coming from Mumbai.
The A-320 aircraft developed the snag immediately after it took off from Mumbai and sources at Delhi airport claimed one of its nose wheels was missing, possibly fell down.
“A snag in opening or closing of the front wheel creates a very tricky situation, especially when an aircraft is landing, because it increases the risk of skidding and makes it extremely difficult to keep the aircraft on the centre line of the runway. But if the nose wheel is missing or gets stuck, an airline has to approach the ‘manufacture’ for probe,” a senior airline official said.
The airline’s spokesperson in Mumbai admitted the aircraft suffered a technical snag but feigned ignorance about the missing nose wheel.
“The aircraft had some technical problems and the airline is probing the nature of the snag,” she said.
Airport sources told DNA the pilot had alerted the air traffic control tower in Mumbai about the snag. On reaching Delhi, he informed the control tower here that one of the front nose wheels was not working, after which the airport authority swung into action and announced full emergency on the runway around 3.15 pm.
The minute the emergency was declared the runway was closed and all aircraft movement on the taxiing tracks banned. The control tower put on hold all aircraft lined up for landing and takeoff from the airport.
After this, as per procedure, the pilot was told to fly low over the runway.
“The low flying was prescribed to ascertain the position of the nose wheel. The aircraft had to fly low twice before the front nose wheel problem was detected,” the official said.
The aircraft finally landed at 3.48 pm and all passengers were deplaned safely. Later, engineers of the airlines inspected the aircraft, which has been now grounded for further investigation.
“The aircraft had joined the GoAir fleet in November 2007 and was in fine condition. Its manufacturer has been informed and a through investigation is under way,” the airline spokesperson said.
k_yogesh@dnaindia.net 
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