An Air India plane carrying 180 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Sunday, after a balloon used to measure weather parameters was allegedly sucked into one of its engines, forcing it to shut down.
Air India’s Delhi to Srinagar flight, AI 825, took off from the airport at 10.19 a.m. but was forced to return at 10.58 a.m.
“Why did the Air Traffic Control (ATC) allow take-off permission if the balloon was airborne?” said an airline official.
Another official said: “The pilot said that a balloon used by the meteorological department was ingested [into an engine], forcing it to shut down. We will have to find out whether this observation is correct, and if it is, whether the balloon was airborne during the time it was supposed to be, and whether the exercise was notified and co-ordinated with the ATC.”
