Mumbai: A Coimbatore-bound IndiGo A320 airbus turned back midair to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), within an hour of its take-off, on Friday. The flight had to return, as one of its engines stalled midair with high vibrations. The pilot, however, managed to land the aircraft safely with the help of the other engine, an official said.
The number of passengers was not known immediately. A senior DGCA official confirmed the incident and attributed it to the low-pressure turbine (LPT). "IndiGo flight 6E-375 operating on the Mumbai- Coimbatore route was forced to return to Mumbai one of its engines stopped working mid-air," official said.
The Pratt & Whitney-powered engine Airbus flight took off around 12.50 pm from CSMIA before landing back at around 1.55pm, the source said. The plane was changed for the Coimbatore-bound flight and was finally departed at 3.47pm, delayed by almost three hours from its scheduled time. The flight landed Coimabatore at 5.39pm on Friday. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is probing the incident, adding damage to the LPT blades prima facie caused the engine to stop functioning.
