AI plane hit air pocket, escaped disaster

June 01, 2010 01:27 am | Updated November 09, 2016 02:25 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

A plane of Air India's low-budget carrier, on a flight from Dubai to Pune with 118 people on board, plunged a few thousand feet after it hit an air pocket giving tense moments, just four days after the Mangalore air crash.

No one was injured in the incident that occurred on May 26 when the Boeing 737-800 of the Air India Express, which was on an auto-pilot mode, hit an air pocket and dived over 5,000 ft. while flying over Muscat, official sources said on Monday.

Pilots taken off duty

Both the pilots of the flight IX-212 have been taken off duty pending investigations, which have been launched by Air India and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation. There were 112 passengers and a six-member crew on board.

There were reports that the commander of the aircraft (IX-212) was in the toilet when the plane, after the plunge, came directly on the path of another plane.

But official sources said there was no threat of a near-miss as no other aircraft was near the Air India plane that lost height. The enquiry would lay bare the facts, they added.

An Air India spokesperson said the flight “lost some height,” but “not 15,000 feet as reported.”

The matter is being investigated, the spokesperson said, adding that the aircraft later landed safely at Pune.

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