An IndiGo flight headed to Ranchi had to land in an emergency on Monday. PTI news agency shared this, quoting airport officials.
Officials said a bird hit caused the emergency landing. All 175 passengers were safe.
The plane got hit by a vulture while flying at around 4,000 feet. PTI reported that the aircraft was damaged.
“An IndiGo flight was hit by a bird near Ranchi,” said R R Maurya, Director at Birsa Munda Airport. “It happened about 10 to 12 nautical miles from here, at around 3,000 to 4,000 feet. The flight was coming from Patna to Ranchi. The pilot made an emergency landing,” he told PTI.
He said the vulture strike caused a dent on the aircraft. Engineers are now checking the damage.
More problems for IndiGo
On Sunday, another IndiGo flight ran into strong turbulence near Delhi. The stormy weather caused the problem.
Flight 6E 6313 came from Raipur and was headed to Delhi. It landed safely after circling in the air for some time.
The pilot delayed landing due to a dust storm. He kept flying in circles until the weather got better.
Just weeks earlier, a flight to Srinagar had a similar issue. It took off from Delhi and ran into bad weather soon after.
A hailstorm near Pathankot hit the plane. The nose of the aircraft was damaged.
The pilots asked to enter Pakistani airspace to avoid the storm. But both the Indian Air Force and Lahore Air Traffic Control said no. The pilots stayed on course and landed safely in Srinagar.
