Cyclone Fengal: IndiGo flight comes into danger while attempting to land at Chennai airport | Video | Latest News India

Adverse weather conditions during Cyclone Fengal resulted in a close encounter with an IndiGo Airlines Airbus A320 Neo aircraft at Chennai airport on Saturday evening.

The plane struggled to complete its landing on the runway, a viral video showed. Just as the plane was preparing to land and its wheels were just a few inches off the ground, it aborted the landing and took off again.

An Aviation Report shared the video

“The cyclonic storm brought heavy rains to coastal districts and flooded houses and hospitals,” it said.

The Chennai airport authorities had issued an operational suspension notice, which said, “After consultations with the AAI headquarters and taking into consideration the feedback from stakeholders, it has been decided to close operations through a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) by 0400 IST to be extended on December 1, 2024.” We encourage passengers to check with their respective airlines regarding their flights.

The video of the IndiGo flight has been viewed over 100,000 times and several users reacted to the horrific moment.

“Awful decision by the pilot there, huge risk – should have been avoided,” one user wrote, while another said: “That wing couldn’t have been more than a few inches away from touching the ground.”

“It was a split second decision, I mean, wow! That’s why they make a lot of money and that’s what they deserve,” said another X user.

Notably, Chennai airport resumed operations after 4 am on Sunday and many airlines, including IndiGo, also resumed flights. However, there have been complaints from several airlines about delayed and canceled flights.

IndiGo’s answer

As the video went viral, an IndiGo spokesperson issued a statement and said that the cockpit crew of flight 6E-683, which was traveling between Mumbai and Chennai, conducted a “go-around” on November 30 as per established safety protocols.

“This is a standard and safe maneuver and our pilots are fully trained to handle such situations with the utmost professionalism. A go-around is carried out when a safe landing is not possible, as was the case with this flight,” the spokesperson said as quoted by ANI.

The airline also reiterated its “commitment to the safety of our passengers, aircraft and crew.”

Cyclone Fengal

Cyclonic Storm Fengal crossed the northern coasts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry late on Saturday evening and completed the landfall process around 2 am on Sunday.

According to the India Meteorological Department, Cyclone Fengal is expected to move very slowly towards the west and gradually become a deep low pressure area over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in the next few hours.

The weather department had observed that the cyclonic storm remained stationary over north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for six hours.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army along with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) began relief operations after 6 am.