Tractor Breaks Down Near Runway At Patna Airport, Forces IndiGo Flight To Hold Up In Sky – News18
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The delay in removing tractor from path of flight on the runway left the aircraft hovering over Patna, causing delay in landing.
Representative Image (ANI Image)
An IndiGo flight was forced to circle over Patna for 40 minutes as a tractor, put to work for grass cutting, broke down alongside the runway of the Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport, according to a report.
The landing of the flight operating from Kolkata to Patna was delayed by around 40 minutes due to the incident that took place on Friday morning.
“A tractor, engaged in grass cutting, got stuck alongside the runway within the safety margin of wing clearance of an aircraft from air traffic controller’s point of view, leading to around 15-20 minutes delay in flight operation on Thursday morning,” an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official told Hindustan Times.
“The tractor collapsed in the wet, muddy area of land and it took around 15-20 minutes to tow it away,” the official added.
Initially, attempts were made to remove the tractor using a normal vehicle, however, a heavy excavator had to be used to pull it away, causing a delay in the clearance, the official was quoted as saying by HT.
A passenger said that the flight landed in Patna at around 7.50 am, 40 minutes behind the landing time.
According to Flightstats.com, the IndiGo 6E 7085 flight was 43 minutes delayed.
“The pilot made an in-flight announcement four times that a tractor had broken down along the runway of Patna Airport, as we circled over the airport. That it would be a while before we are able to land, until then we will be flying over Patna,” HT quoted Dr Satyajit Sinha, a passenger, as quoting the pilot.
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