Navy jet's tyre bursts on landing at Goa

PANAJI: A tyre of a naval Sea Harrier jet burst on landing at Goa's Dabolim airport, an official said on Sunday. The incident threw holiday bound air traffic out of gear for a couple of hours.

A navy official said that both the pilot and the fighter aircraft were safe after the incident on Saturday evening.

"The rear tyre burst as the plane touched down," a naval official said.

The incident disrupted busy week-end traffic at Goa's only airport for a couple of hours.

Planes scheduled to land at Dabolim were diverted to nearby airports, including Bangalore and Mumbai. Some flights that were diverted belonged to Jet Airways and Air India.

"Some flights which came in later had to hover over the airport for a while before their landing was cleared," an official said.

This is the second such incident at the Dabolim airport in a fortnight.

On Nov 16, a Moscow-bound Trans-Aero aircraft's wing brushed against the tail of another chartered flight from Britain. No one was hurt.

Dabolim airport is a military facility which is also used for civilian purposes.