Navy MiG 29K makes emergency landing at Mangaluru airport
07:02PM Tue 28 Feb, 2017
MANGALURU: Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) at Kenjar near here declared its second full blown emergency in less than 24-hours with an Indian Navy MiG 29K making an emergency landing on Tuesday.
The first emergency was declared on Monday to accommodate Air India flight 681 bound for Kochi from Mumbai that was forced to make an emergency landing at MIA when the aircraft developed pressurization failure while flying over Goa.
J T Radhakrishna, airport director, MIA told TOI that the India Navy MiG 29K made an emergency landing at MIA on Tuesday following a technical failure. "The Indian Navy aircraft on a routine sortie from INS Hansa in Goa developed a technical snag and sought permission for emergency landing at MIA. On landing, the rear tyres of the aircraft burst and the aircraft was stranded on the runway, blocking it for routine commercial operations," Radhakrishna noted.
The pilot Commander Abhijit was unhurt in the incident, he said. Indian Navy simultaneously sent a helicopter with spares and crew on board to repair the stricken aircraft, Radhakrishna said adding that the repairs are presently underway and the runway is expected to be cleared by 9pm. In the meanwhile, with the runway blocked, MIA authority's diverted three aircraft inbound for MIA to other airports including Bengaluru. Other aircraft bound for MIA were held back.
The then defence minister A K Antony on May 11, 2013 had commissioned the Indian Naval Air Squadron (INSA) 303, the first MiG 29K squadron of the Indian Navy at INS Hansa. The squadron will provide effective safeguards for unhindered economic development of the nation and other friendly nations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), Antony had said. The Squadron currently also operates from INS Vikramaditya that is based out of Naval base at Karwar.
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