An Air India Bangkok-Delhi service was delayed after the aircraft flying the route had to turn back shortly after takeoff. Already running behind schedule, the Boeing 787’s flight was cut short after pilots received a slats failure warning as the plane was climbing. The aircraft landed safely and was later cleared to depart for Delhi again.

About the flight

Air India flight AI 333 is a scheduled service between Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) and Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL).

With a scheduled departure time of 12:35 and an arrival of 15:20, the flight lasts for 3 hours and 45 minutes. The carrier deploys one of its many Boeing 787 Dreamliners for this relatively short international flight.

Air India Boeing 787 London Heathrow 1
Photo: Jake Hardiman | Simple Flying

Slats failure warning

On August 16th, flight AI 333 was already running late, departing Bangkok almost an hour behind schedule at 13:28. Shortly after its takeoff, as the plane reached around 6,000 feet, the pilots received a slats failure warning.

The cockpit crew wasted no time in returning to Bangkok, where the plane was inspected by a maintenance crew and later cleared to depart again. The Indian Express quotes a person familiar with the matter as saying,

“The pilots saw a slats failure warning and decided to turn the aircraft back to Bangkok. The aircraft was checked by the maintenance crew in Bangkok and was cleared to fly to Delhi. It departed at 5.03pm local time, and reached Delhi at 7.25 pm IST.”

Screenshot 2022-08-17 100515
The aircraft received the slats warning at 6,000 feet. Photo: FlightRadar24.com

India’s aviation regulator, the DGCA, is looking into the incident.

The aircraft in question is an 8-year-old Boeing 787 delivered to Air India in 2014 and has clocked in 24,000 hours and 4,731 flight cycles. In the days preceding the incident, it had also flown between London (LHR) and Hyderabad (HYD), Delhi (DEL) and Hong Kong (HKG), and Dubai (DXB) and Delhi (DEL).

Other incidents

Last month, another Air India 787, with more than 250 people onboard, suffered cabin depressurization while performing a flight between Dubai (DXB) and Kochi (COK). The flight was diverted to Mumbai (BOM) and landed safely.

Indian Airlines at Delhi airport
Photo: Getty Images

According to the Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh, Air India reported 184 technical snags in the last one year ending in June. Other airlines, such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, Go First, Vistara, and AirAsia India, reported 98, 77, 50, 40, and 14 technical snags, respectively.

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However, DGCA’s chief Arun Kumar has stated that the country’s civil aviation space is “absolutely safe,” and all the protocols laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are followed.

He added that most snags are routine and happen with all airlines and fleet types.

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Source: The Indian Express