An Air India flight bound for New York’s Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) from Delhi decided to return to the airport following the discovery of a bat in the business class cabin of the Boeing 777 aircraft. Flight AI101 departed New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) early Thursday morning at 2.20 AM when the crew onboard noticed an animal flying through different sections of the cabin.
The incident was subsequently reported by the flight crew to air traffic control. The crew decided to return to Delhi and landed safely at Delhi’s IGI airport at 3.55 AM following an hour in a holding pattern, to allow the crew to dump fuel in order to reduce the aircraft’s weight for landing.
The aircraft then parked at one of the gates and Delhi Airport and all passengers were able to disembark the aircraft. According to local media, the bat was retrieved from an area near seats D, E, and F in the business class section of the aircraft and was immediately fumigated and sanitized.
Speaking to ANI, a senior official for India’s aviation safety regulator, the DGCA said that “Air India B777-300ER aircraft VT-ALM operating Flight AI-105 (Delhi- Newark) was involved in air-turn-back due to bat reported in the cabin by cabin crew after departure. Fuel was jettisoned and the aircraft landed safely at Delhi. After landing, fumigation was carried out and a dead bat carcass was retrieved from seat 8DEF area”.
Officials believe the bat could have originated from service and loading vehicles such as catering trucks. A full investigation has been launched to ascertain how the mammal ended up on the aircraft. A replacement flight, AI 105 was arranged for the stranded passengers and landed at Newark at 11:35 AM.
While it seems bizarre, there have been a small number of occurrences where animals end up on flights, the majority of which are usually birds. In one particular example, a bird was discovered on a Singapore Airlines flight that was 12 hours into its flight to London back in 2019. It was soon caught after the plane landed and was handed over to the airport authorities.
Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://aeronewsx.com/air-india-flight-returns-to-delhi-after-bat-found-in-cabin/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=air-india-flight-returns-to-delhi-after-bat-found-in-cabin
