Two IndiGo flights on separate engines had to make emergency landings after one of their twin engines shut down mid air.
While one plane landed at the intended destination, the other had to return to the origin.
Madurai-Mumbai flight
IndiGo flight 6E-2012, traveling from Madurai to Mumbai, suffered a technical issue mid-flight on Tuesday.
It had also faced a technical issue prior to landing in Mumbai, which led to the pilot prioritizing landing in Mumbai.
“The aircraft is held in Mumbai and will be back in operation after necessary maintenance. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers,” the airline said.
Kolkata-Bengaluru flight
Just a few hours later, another IndiGo flight, this time traveling from Kolkata to Bengaluru reported a similar mid-air glitch after one of its engines shut down.
Since twin engine planes can land safely on one engine, the aircraft returned to Kolkata.
DGCA statement
Of the Mumbai-Madurai IndiGo flight, aviation regulator DGCA said, “Engine 2 Stall occurred and Engine2 oil chip detected warning came. Engine2 was shut down as per the checklist and the aircraft landed safely.”
“VT-IUF operating flight 6E-455 was involved in air-turnback and IFSD (in-flight shutdown) of Engine No 2. Engine 2 stall occurred and oil chip detected warning came. It was shutdown as per the check list and the aircraft landed safely”, a DGCA official said of the other Kolkata-Bengaluru flight.
Pratt & Whitney engines under question
Officials had said both the IndiGo aircraft were running on Pratt and Whitney engines.
IndiGo, which is India’s largest carrier, is also the largest customer of such engines.
Pratt & Whitney hold a dubious reputation of its aircraft being snag prone.
Almost 40 aircraft of IndiGo have been grounded for months due to PW snags.
It has been waiting for long for the enginemaker to send replacement engines.
GoFirst grounding
Another airline GoFirst had called out the company for causing its grounding earlier this year.
It held PW directly responsible for PW engine snags that had led to over half its fleet being grounded for many months.
Here also, it placed the blame directly on PW engine snags.
Aviation regulator DGCA said it is carrying out the “technical evaluation” of the engine issues in close coordination with IndiGo
