In a bizarre incident, abat on board an Air India flight which had taken off from Delhi airport early onThursday had forced the pilot to return.
The pilot reportedlyinformed about the presence of bat to Air Traffic Control (ATC).
Reportedly, the flight was en route to Newark (EWR) from Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi asscheduled at 2:20 am. The pilot spotted the bat after around 30 minutes oftake-off and he decided to return the plane to the original base (Delhi).
"AI-105DEL-EWR returned back to base (Delhi) after departure due to this local standbyemergency was declared. On arrival, it was learnt that a bat was seen insidethe cabin by crew members. Wildlife staff was called to catch and remove thebat from the cabin. The aircraft landed safely at around 3:55 am. Later flight wasdeclared Aircraft on Grounded (AoG)," said Air India officials to aneminent media house.
Accordingto the officials of DGCA, fumigation was carried out and bat carcass was takenout from the plane.
It maybe noted here the bat was spotted in the business class area. The on-time information led to the safe emergency landing at the airbase and purported theflight’s safety department for a detailed investigation.
The engineering team of the airlines was also asked to submit a detailed report ofthe incident. In its initial report, the team stated that wild bat came fromthird parties.
"Theprobable reason/cause may be loading vehicles like those for catering becauseall the time rats/bats come from their vehicle only," an Air India official told an eminent media house.
Notably,the passengers were shifted to another plane and Air India flight AI-105 landedin Newark at 11:35 am local time.