An Air India flight bound to Newark from the Delhi International Airport returned back to Delhi in just 30-minutes. The flight took a u-turn mid-air after a dead bat was found inside the business class section of the plane. Here’s everything you must know about it.
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Newark Bound Air India Flight Returns Back To Delhi After Finding Dead Bat Inside Bussiness Class
An Air India flight took off from Delhi on early Thursday morning and returned after the pilot reported a presence of a dead bat inside the business class cabin to the Air Traffic Control. As per the reports in ANI, the incident was recorded in the wee hours of Thursday morning.
Once the crew found out about the bat, the pilot contacted the ATC and safely landed back at the Delhi Airport at 3 55 AM. The Wildlife staff was then contacted to catch the bat, but they could only recover the body. The plane was then declared grounded, and after thorough checks, the passengers were shifted to another aircraft which landed at the Newark airport at 11.35 AM (local time).
The Passengers Were Shifted To Another Aircraft After All The Checks
On this, an Air India official said to ANI,
“The probable reason maybe loading vehicles like the those for catering because all the time rats/ bats came from their vehicles only.”
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Well, this incident is quite shocking, considering the covid situation in India. Speaking about this unexpected incident senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official told ANI,
“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 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.”
Well, we hope that the airline is more careful the next time.