Dubai-bound SpiceJet flight suffers gasoline indicator malfunction, diverted to Karachi

By PTI

NEW DELHI/KARACHI: SpiceJet’s Delhi-Dubai flight suffered a mid-air malfunction in its gasoline indicator on Tuesday and was diverted to Karachi and cracks developed on the windshield of one other airplane of the price range service at a top of 23,000 toes forcing a precedence touchdown in Mumbai in a double whammy for the airline.

The two episodes on a single day have taken the entire variety of technical malfunction incidents involving SpiceJet plane to seven within the final 17 days.

The Dubai flight was operated by Boeing 737 Max with round 150 passengers on board, in line with officers. The variety of passengers on the 78-seater Q400 airplane on a Kandla-Mumbai flight was not instantly identified.

According to officers of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation regulator is investigating all of the seven incidents.

The Boeing 737 Max plane — which was heading from Delhi to Dubai on Tuesday morning — began displaying uncommon gasoline amount discount from its left tank when it was mid-air, following which it was diverted to Karachi, they stated.

When an inspection was carried out on the Karachi airport, no visible leak was noticed from the left tank, they added.

An official of Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCCA) stated the pilot of SpiceJet’s Delhi-Dubai flight contacted the management tower whereas flying over Pakistan airspace, informing that the plane has developed some technical fault.

After the airplane was allowed to land on humanitarian grounds, engineers of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) labored with SpiceJet crew to find and rectify the technical fault, the PCCA official added.

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“Apparently, there was a problem with the aircraft’s light indicator machinery, but it could not be repaired immediately so another aircraft was arranged to take the passengers to Dubai,” he stated.

Another supply on the Karachi airport stated round 150 passengers have been on board the plane and have been supplied meals and refreshments.

SpiceJet’s alternative plane was despatched from Mumbai and landed on the Karachi airport at 6.15 pm (IST). This airplane departed from Karachi at 9.45 pm (IST) with the passengers to Dubai.

In the second incident, the pilots of the Q400 airplane needed to perform a precedence touchdown at Mumbai airport after its windshield cracked at 23,000 toes altitude, DGCA officers stated.

The plane didn’t face any cabin pressurisation points, they stated. “On 5th July, 2022, SpiceJet Q400 aircraft was operating SG 3324 (Kandla-Mumbai). During cruise at FL230 (23,000 feet altitude), P2 side windshield outer pane cracked. Pressurization was observed to be normal. The aircraft landed safely in Mumbai,” the SpiceJet stated in an announcement.

Commenting on the Delhi-Dubai flight incident, the airline stated, “On July 5, 2022, SpiceJet B737 aircraft operating flight SG-11 (Delhi-Dubai) was diverted to Karachi due to an indicator light malfunctioning. The aircraft landed safely at Karachi and passengers were safely disembarked.”

“No emergency was declared and the aircraft made a normal landing. There was no earlier report of any malfunction with the aircraft,” it added.

Passengers have been served refreshments, it had stated earlier within the day. Since June 19, there have been seven incidents involving SpiceJet planes.

On June 19, an engine on the service’s Delhi-bound plane carrying 185 passengers caught hearth quickly after the takeoff from Patna airport and the airplane made an emergency touchdown minutes later. The engine malfunctioned due to a hen hit.

In one other incident on June 19, a flight for Jabalpur needed to return to Delhi resulting from cabin pressurisation points.

Fuselage door warnings lit up on two separate planes whereas taking off on June 24 and June 25, forcing them to desert their journeys and return.

On July 2, a flight heading to Jabalpur returned to Delhi after the crew members noticed smoke within the cabin at round 5,000 toes altitude. Notably, SpiceJet has been making losses for the final three years.

The service incurred a web lack of Rs 316 crore, Rs 934 crore and Rs 998 crore in 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. Shares of SpiceJet fell by over 2 per cent within the backdrop of a collection of technical incidents involving the airline.

On Tuesday when its Dubai-bound airplane was diverted to Karachi the airline’s scrip dropped 2.33 per cent to shut at Rs 37.65 apiece on BSE. The scrip, which opened at Rs 38.50, touched an intra-day low of Rs 37.45.

During the session, it had recorded an intra-day excessive of Rs 38.95. The 52-week low of the service’s shares is Rs 37.15.