On 28th October, an IndiGo Airbus A320 was forced to reject takeoff at Delhi Airport after one of its engines failed and sent out lots of sparks.
The Airbus A320-200 with registration VT-IFM was operating flight 6E2131 from Delhi to Bangalore with 184 people onboard including 177 passengers and 7 crew members. It was accelerating for takeoff from Delhi’s runway 28 when the crew rejected the takeoff at low speed (about 45 knots over ground) as reported by the Aviation Herald.
The aircraft stopped and remained stationary on the runway for eight minutes, before it taxied to the apron. One of passengers on board shared a video of the incident which shows the right hand engine (V2527) on fire and emitting sparks.
An airline spokesperson said that the flight experienced an engine stall during take off roll due to which the take off was aborted and the aircraft safely returned to the bay.
“An aircraft operating flight 6E2131 from Delhi to Bangalore experienced a technical issue while on take off roll, immediately after which the pilot aborted the take off and the aircraft returned to the bay. All passengers and crew are safe and an alternate aircraft is being arranged to operate the flight. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers,” IndiGo said in a statement.
The pilot of a SpiceJet plane that was behind the IndiGo A320 in the line up while taxiing reportedly alerted the Air Traffic Controller about the engine fire.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has directed the officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to look into the incident.
Passengers reached Bangalore on a replacement Airbus A320-200N with registration VT-IJW with a delay of about 3 hours.
Feature Image via Twitter