Air India plane with Manmohan Singh onboard flies without retracting wheels

NEW DELHI: An Air India aircraft, carrying former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with other passengers, flew from Amritsar to Delhi with one of its landing gears not retracting.

The airline, however, said there was no harm to any passenger and that operations procedure as per checklist was followed by the crew before the take-off.

The incident happened on July 12 when the flight, a Boeing 787-800 (Dreamliner) plane, was flying to Delhi from Amritsar.

Air India said that the flight landed safely at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

"AI 113 (ATQ-DEL) of 12 July, call sign VT-ANV with Dr Manmohan Singh on board. After take-off from Amritsar, the pilot noticed a gear disagree message of left landing gear," Air India said in a statement.

"Operations procedure as per checklist was followed by crew and aircraft landed safely without any problem in Delhi," the airline said.

The "drag brace actuator" was replaced, as suggested by aircraft maker Boeing, after the incident, it said, adding that the plane is now in operation without any glitch.

Air India would like to reiterate that it strictly adheres to standard, laid down safety procedures and all actions were well within approved parameters.,the statement added.