Air scare in Bangalore-bound plane

Air scare in Bangalore-bound plane
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

MUMBAI, MARCH 25: Tension prevailed on the Bangalore-bound Indian Airlines flight IC-609 when smoke was detected from the cargo hold, while the plane was in mid-air.

The IA plane had reportedly departed from Mumbai at around 8.30 pm, but within 30 minutes of the commencement of flight, the pilot, Captain Saudamini Deshmukh, noticed smoke coming out of from the toilet near the cockpit.

On detecting the smoke, Captain Deshmukh took no further chances and reverted her flight path back to Mumbai. The plane landed safely at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at around 9.30 pm and the passengers were off-loaded to various other flights.

``There was a lot of tension in the flight for an hour, since some of the passengers had also noticed the smoke and were were all praying for a safe landing,''said one of the passengers M Manjunath, who is a resident of Bangalore.

Later, an IA official confirmed that the smoke had originated from the cargo hold located in the belly of the plane. It was caused due to a faulty electrical cable, but any major error was ruled out.

Apart from this technical glitch, the `go slow' agitation by the ground technicians and engineers also delayed a few other IA flights in the Mumbai sector.