Rahul Gandhi flight scare: 'snag not uncommon’ says Aviation regulator
New Delhi: The plane taking Rahul Gandhi from Delhi to Hubballi on Thursday suddenly dipped, listed to one side and shuddered violently despite clear weather, the Congress has said in a complaint alleging "intentional tampering" of the aircraft and calling for an investigation. An FIR has been filed against the pilot.
The civil aviation regulator has blamed it on a "snag of autopilot mode", which, it asserts, is not uncommon.
"The operator has reported the incident to us. It was snag of autopilot mode and pilot shifted to manual mode and landed safely," said BS Bhullar, who heads the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
"Shutting of autopilot incidents are not uncommon. For any VIP flight, DGCA examines it in detail. We shall do here also," he added. A detailed report will be out in two weeks.
The Congress has called for a thorough investigation and this morning, there were a deluge of tweets from party leaders expressing concern.
In a letter to the Karnataka police, a party leader described the flight as "particularly frightening and uncommon" and said the entire experience had left the passengers "with a lot of anxiety and distress" and positively fearing for their lives".
Mr Gandhi's team member said in his letter that the "suspicious and faulty performance" of the aircraft was due to technical snags.
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Indigo crisis: Shivakumar urges Centre to act immediately, bring situation under control
Bengaluru (PTI): With large scale flight cancellations by Indigo airlines leaving passengers stranded, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday urged the Centre to act immediately and bring the situation under control.
He called the IndiGo fiasco a the direct result of the govt's monopoly model.
Taking to social media platform 'X', Shivakumar said India is witnessing the worst aviation meltdown in its history. "Thousands of flights cancelled - leaving our people stranded everywhere".
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"The IndiGo fiasco is the direct result of the govt's monopoly model. And as always, it is ordinary Indians who are paying the price," he said.
Shivakumar said that the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, which is India's 3rd busiest airport with nearly 40 million travellers a year, is in complete chaos.
"This is hurting families, businesses and our national reputation. I urge the Union Government to act immediately and bring this situation under control. Our people deserve better," he added.
Domestic carrier IndiGo cancelled over 800 flights on Saturday, the fifth day of the ongoing crisis, even as the government imposed a cap on airfares and directed the airline to process all refunds by Sunday evening.
