The 155 Air India passengers that were saved from head-on collision with an Indian Air Force chopper thanked an experienced AI pilot who halted the take-off.
The 155 Air India (AI) passengers on board IC 866 that was saved from head-on collision with an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper thank their stars and the experienced AI pilot who halted the take-off. “It’s like I am reborn today.
Otherwise it would have been our flight to heaven,” says Hitesh Solanki, 35, a businessman from Kalina. Solanki was on the Mumbai-Delhi flight.
Solanki and other passengers boarded the flight from Santa Cruz terminal 1A of Mumbai airport at 8.45 am on Monday. The flight was scheduled to depart at 9.17 am. Around 9.16 am, the aircraft was given take-off clearance by the Mumbai ATC and it was on the runway 27 of 09-27.
“We thought we would take-off, but suddenly our flight came to a screeching halt. Thank god, we had worn our seat belts or there would have been accidents on board due to the halt,” says Solanki who was on seat 24C of the economy class.
“From the window of the plane, I saw a helicopter parked some 22 meters away from us,” he says.
The captain, MS Kohli, announced on board that the plane has abandoned take-off because an IAF chopper had crossed them on the runway. “All of us were shocked for a moment. Then I went and personally thanked the captain for saving our lives. AI has very experienced pilots, which is why they were able to take charge of the situation,” says Solanki. The aircraft was taken to the bay number 18 of terminal 1A.
“When we got down from the flight we saw the airline people changing the wheels of the aircrafts. Apparently, one of the tyres had burst after the brakes were slammed,” says Mahesh Mehta (name changed) another passenger.
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