The Hindu : IA emergency landing results in oil spill

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 29, 2002

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IA emergency landing results in oil spill

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JUNE 28. A possible mishap was averted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here today after oil spilled on the runway from an Indian Airlines flight while it made an emergency landing due to failure of its hydraulic system. The pilot of IC-879 from Guwahati, with 147 passengers on board, on approaching Delhi, informed Air Traffic Control here that the plane had developed a problem in its hydraulic system. Immediately, all emergency systems were put on alert as the plane prepared to land on runway 10 at IGIA.

Airport sources said the failure of the plane's hydraulic system somehow resulted in an oil leak which spilled all along the runway as it made the landing at 4.30 p.m. This caused concern as oil on the runway is considered extremely dangerous. The Indian Airlines authorities, however, chose to play down the incident stating that failure in hydraulic systems were not uncommon. Yet, the sources said, rarely do such failures result in an oil leak.

Meanwhile, another Alliance Air plane from Kolkata landed at 5.12 p.m. after reporting failure in its hydraulic system. There were, however, no hiccups and the landing was safe.

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