Date:12/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/12/stories/2008101256800100.htm

New Delhi

An emergency landing at Delhi airport

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: A London-bound Air India flight made an emergency landing at Delhi airport on Saturday after the pilot detected smoke in the cockpit.

All the 115 passengers and 15 crew of flight AI-111 landed safely with all emergency measures activated.

The passengers later left for London by another plane.

The aircraft -- a Boeing 777-300 (Extended Range) – took off from Delhi at 6-50 in the morning. After being airborne for about half an hour, the pilot was alerted by a smoke alarm. He detected smoke in the cockpit.

“There was nothing wrong with the aircraft. There was some problem in the electrical wiring of one of the personalised television sets, which are a part of the in-flight entertainment system, that caused the smoke. The pilot decided to return immediately keeping safety of the passengers in mind,” said an Air India official.

The pilot informed Air Traffic Control at Delhi airport about the problem. Thereafter a full emergency was declared. Fire tenders, ambulances, ladders and other emergency equipment were pressed into service as the plane touched down.

“A stand-by aircraft was readily available. However, arranging for a different crew took some time,” said the official, adding that the passengers left for London around 12 noon.This is the second such incident at Delhi airport in the past couple of days. On Thursday, a GoAir aircraft had made an emergency landing after the pilot found that one of its nose-wheels had come off during take-off at Mumbai airport. Flight G8 456 had 123 passengers and crew on board.