Series of technical malfunctions in flights - diversions & emergency landings

On July 15, a hydraulic malfunction occurred on board the Air Arabia aircraft when it was flying flight G9-426 from Sharjah to Cochin. The plane touched down on the runway safely at the Cochin International Airport, Nedumbassery (Image: @@airarabiagroup/twitter)

Due to technical issues, various airlines' flights have been diverted in July 2022 in order to make for them a safe emergency landing at different airports as a precaution. While three international aircrafts' emergency landings have been reported in India over the past 48 hours, two of India's foreign-bound aircrafts have been diverted to Muscat and Karachi.

Three international carriers' aircraft have made emergency landings at various airports across India, due to technical difficulties.

According to a senior official with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), these landings took place on Friday (July 15) and Saturday (July 16).

It is being reported that all emergency landings were necessary due to a variety of technical problems with the aircrafts.

In one incident, a Srilankan Airlines plane (UL121) bound for Chennai from Colombo had to make an emergency landing at Chennai Airport on July 15 because of a hydraulic problem. It was reported that the pilot noticed a technical snag when it was nearing the city.

In the second such incident, a hydraulic malfunction occurred on board the Air Arabia aircraft when it was flying flight G9-426 from Sharjah to Cochin. The plane touched down on the runway safely at the Cochin International Airport, Nedumbassery. After this, the plane was hauled into the bay.

A third incident occurred on July 16 when an Ethiopian Airlines plane traveling from Addis Abeba to Bangkok had to make an emergency landing at the airport in Kolkata because of a pressurisation problem.

On July 17, Air India Express flight IX-355 from Calicut to Dubai was reported to have been diverted to Muscat after a burning smell was detected coming from one of the forward galley vents.

And, the most recent in a string of near misses, on July 17, a technical issue forced the pilot of a Sharjah-Hyderabad Indigo flight to make an emergency landing in Karachi, Pakistan.

In a previous incident on July 14, domestic airlines IndiGo flight going from Delhi to Vadodara was diverted to make a landing in Jaipur, Rajasthan, as a precautionary measure, following vibrations in the engines for a fraction of a second.

Prior to this incident, on July 5, SpiceJet freighter aircraft, which was heading to Chongqing in China, returned to Kolkata as the pilots realised after take off that its weather radar was not working.

On July 5, SpiceJet B737 aircraft flight SG-11 from Delhi to Dubai was diverted to Karachi due to an indicator light malfunctioning.

And, on July 2, SpiceJet flight from Delhi heading to Jabalpur returned to Delhi after the crew members observed smoke in the cabin at around 5,000-feet altitude.

Also Read: SpiceJet gets DGCA notice over ‘poor safety oversight’

Civil Aviation Min says 'Passenger safety is paramount' in meeting with DGCA, MoCA officials

Amid serial technical malfunctions reported on aircrafts, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in a high-level meeting on July 17 with senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA, asserted that passenger safety is paramount, reported ANI.

The news agency quoting an MoCA official said, "Civil Aviation Minister Scindia directed the officials in the meeting that, “there should be no compromise with the passengers' safety, safety is the paramount priority".

Civil Aviation Minister Scindia directed the officials in the meeting that, “there should be no compromise with the passengers' safety,” adding "safety is the paramount priority": MoCA official

— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2022