Narrow escape for IndiGo plane after aborted landing at Patna airport

According to reports, due to the short runway, around 9 pm on Tuesday, the IndiGo plane overshot the designated point slightly (Image: X/@Bihar_Sansad)

A big plane accident was averted at Patna’s Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport on the night of July 15 (Tuesday) when Indigo flight 6E-2482, arriving from Delhi, narrowly escaped a failed landing attempt.

According to News18, the aircraft, carrying 173 passengers, was reportedly unable to safely land due to the short runway and was forced to abort the attempt.

The pilot made an immediate decision to take off again close to the runway and after executing a go-around maneuvre in the air four times, managed to land the plane.

According to reports, due to the short runway, around 9 pm on Tuesday, the plane overshot the designated point slightly, leading the pilot to believe that landing the aircraft safely in the first attempt would be difficult.

According to News18, eyewitnesses and aviation sources confirmed that the runway, often considered among the more challenging in the country due to its limited length, posed a significant risk during the landing.

The pilot’s timely response averted not just a potential crash, but also a collision with the densely populated Polo Road area nearby, which houses several government ministers and senior officials, it reported.

It is known that the passengers went through a tense few moments as the aircraft descended sharply, only to ascend again moments before touchdown.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is likely to start an inquiry into the averted accident. The Patna airport is associated with historical safety concerns.

Notably, in 2000, Bihar saw its worst aviation tragedies with the Patna plane crash on July 17 that year when an Alliance Air flight CD-7412, a Boeing 737-200, crashed into the residential neighbourhood of Gardanibagh, just 2 km from the airport.

In the crash, over 60 people were killed. Due to poor weather conditions in Patna that morning, after an unsuccessful landing attempt, the aircraft lost control mid-air, resultantly wobbling before it crashed in the neighbouring Gardanibagh. The plane split into two upon impact.