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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2 leopards captured in village near Bengaluru after fatal attack on woman
Bengaluru, Nov 26: A week after a 52-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard near Shivagange Hills in Nelamangala taluk, the Forest department has captured two leopards from Kambalu Gollarahatti village, officials said on Tuesday.
A seven-year-old male leopard was captured on Monday, followed by a nine-year-old female leopard on Tuesday from the same area, they said.
Blood and hair samples of the leopards have been collected and will be sent to the National Centre for Biological Sciences. DNA analysis will determine if either of the captured leopards was responsible for the fatal attack, a senior forest official said.
The victim, identified as Kariamma, was killed on November 17 while cutting grass in an agricultural field near her home. She was reportedly dragged into the forest by a leopard, which mauled her to death and consumed parts of her body.
In response, the Forest Department deployed large cages and installed eight pairs of camera traps around the area to track the leopards.
"Camera traps captured footprints of two male leopards and one female leopard. This enabled us to locate and capture the male and female leopards. Our teams are actively searching for the third male leopard whose footprints were recorded," the official added.
Efforts are ongoing to ensure the safety of residents and monitor wildlife in the region.
