IndiGo flight's engine develops technical snag mid-air due to a bird hit

A Delhi-bound IndiGo flight carrying around 175 passengers returned to Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport in Patna after takeoff on Wednesday morning as one of its engines developed a technical snag due to a bird hit, airport officials said. All the 175 passengers and crew were safe, they said.

"IGO5009 Patna to Delhi reported bird hit after takeoff at 0842 IST, one dead bird in pieces found on runway during inspection. The same was advised to the aircraft through the Approach Control Unit. Message received from the approach control unit that aircraft requested to come back to Patna due to vibration in one engine. Local stand-by declared and aircraft landed safely at 0903 IST on runway 7. All passengers are safe," a statement issued by Patna airport said.

The flight will undergo inspection. The airlines will make alternate arrangements for the passengers to send them to their destination, officials said.


On Tuesday, a similar incident took place when an IndiGo Indore-Raipur flight with 51 passengers on board also returned to the airport shortly after takeoff due to a technical fault.

The pilot realised the technical fault in the IndiGo Airlines flight number 6E-7295 after the plane had taken off from Indore and covered a distance of about 60 nautical miles, Indore's Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport director Vipinkant Seth told PTI.

The plane took off from the Indore airport around 6.35 am on Tuesday, and a few minutes later, the pilot informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC), following which it returned due to technical reasons, he said.

The plane did not make an "emergency landing", the airport director claimed, without giving details of the technical fault.

There were 51 passengers on board the plane, he said.