The fuselage of an Air India aircraft was damaged on Saturday when its pilot lifted the plane to avoid hitting a person and a jeep that had suddenly come on the Pune airport runway during takeoff, an official said.
However, the A321 aircraft landed at the Delhi airport safely.
“During takeoff roll, while at 120 knots speed, the crew saw a jeep and a person on the runway and to avoid conflict, they did early rotation...,” the official of the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation said.
Another DGCA official said, “The aircraft has been withdrawn from service for investigation. Air India has been advised to coordinate with the Pune Air Traffic Control to find out any marking on the runway.”
An Air India spokesperson said, “The A321 aircraft that was scheduled to operate AI 825 to Srinagar was observed to have certain marks towards the tail area. The cockpit voice recorder and solid state flight data recorder readouts would be carried out and the findings shared appropriately.”
