New Delhi: An Air India Airbus A350-900 aircraft made a precautionary landing for the second time in 10 days due to “excessive noise” in the belly of the aircraft.
Air India flight AI111 (VT-JRF), operating from Delhi to London on 26 March, made an emergency return after being airborne for nearly seven hours. The aircraft landed safely, and all passengers and crew were unharmed.
In a statement, Air India said: “Air India flight AI111, operating from Delhi to London on 27 March, returned to Delhi as a precautionary measure after a suspected technical issue was identified. A non‑specific vibration was felt in the cabin, though the flight deck indications remained normal. In an abundance of caution, the flight crew elected to return to Delhi, where the aircraft landed safely.”
Sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told ThePrint that the plane had to return due to “excessive noise” emanating from the plane’s belly.
DGCA sources also said: “Earlier the same issue was encountered on this aircraft while operating flight AI102 (New York, JFK-Delhi) on 16 March. Then maintenance/inspection was carried out on the aircraft in consultation with the M/s Airbus and no deficiency was observed. Since then aircraft has flown ten sectors without any abnormality.”
Flight AI102, which had 300 passengers onboard, was diverted to Ireland’s Shannon Airport.
As per information available on flightradar.com, flight flight AI111 had taken off from Delhi around 6 am Thursday, and made a precautionary landing at the same airport it took off from at 12.30 pm. The decision to divert the plane was taken when the flight was over Oman.
The aircraft is currently undergoing thorough technical checks in accordance with Air India’s stringent safety protocols.
DGCA sources also indicated that officers from the Airworthiness and Air Safety Directorate, DDG (NR) would be investigating the matter further.
Captain C. S. Randhawa of the Federation of Pilots, while speaking to ThePrint, termed the two incidents serious and called for stricter oversight by the DGCA. “There needs to be a stricter investigation by the DGCA, this seems to be a maintenance issue, these incidents have become far too common now, earlier it was the Boeing now we are struggling with the Airbus,” he said.
Randhawa also cautioned that without stronger oversight, such issues could pose safety concerns in the future.
Amit Singh, aviation expert and founder of Safety Matters Foundation, told ThePrint that the vibrations may be linked to a possible data transmission issue within the aircraft. He referred to the vibrations as airframe vibration. Airframe vibration is unwanted shaking or oscillation felt in the body (structure) of an aircraft during flight.
He said, “The two A350 diverted due airframe vibrations. The vibrations were significant. These aircraft are new therefore vibrations are of concern since most originated from the misalignment of flight control surfaces. The B787 diversion to JED is significant too since multiple faults were triggered. These faults may possibly indicate a data transmission fault within the aircraft. It reminds us of the B787 accident last year and a few common faults.”
Air India began operating its Airbus A350-900 aircraft in January 2024, initially deploying them on domestic routes before expanding to key long-haul international sectors.
Air India reiterated their commitment to passenger safety and said that the safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew remains their highest priority.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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