An Air India flight was forced to make a U-turn due to a technical scare soon after takeoff Monday, just days after another of the airline’s Boeing Dreamliners crashed, killing at least 270 people.
Flight AI315 took off from Hong Kong at 12:20 p.m. local time, bound for New Delhi, when the aircraft began an unexpected descent shortly after takeoff.
The seven-year-old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had only reached 22,000 feet before it unexpectedly started descending, prompting the pilot to turn the aircraft back to Hong Kong, according to AirNav radar.
The seven-year-old Boeing 787-8 had only reached 22,000 feet before it hit the unexpected descent. FlightAwareThe flight returned to Hong Kong because of “a technical issue,” Air India said, without giving further details.
Read more on the Air India plane crash
- Air India CEO hits back after prelim report suggests deadly crash was caused by pilot error
- Doomed Air India pilot’s medical records probed amid reports of depression, other mental health struggles
- Air India pilots may have made fatal error before crash that killed more than 270 people, probe reveals
- Air India releases new details about two engines on doomed London flight
The plane safely landed back in Hong Kong at 1:15 p.m., and is undergoing checks “as a matter of abundant precaution,” the airline said.
The scare comes just days after Air India Flight 171, also a Boeing Dreamliner, crashed in Ahmedabad only 30 seconds after taking off heading to London Gatwick on Thursday, killing at least 270 people, both on the flight and in a building it crashed into.
The mishap comes just days after Air India Flight 171 crashed in Ahmedabad. RAJAT GUPTA/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThe 12-year-old plane, which had reached a height of 650 feet, went down within seconds of the mayday call.
Only one man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, survived the horrifying ordeal — one of India’s worst aviation disasters in its history.
With Post wires
