161 passengers and crew on board an Air India Airbus A310 aircraft AI 962 had a narrow escape today when the right wing of the aircraft on a flight from Jeddah tilted and grazed the runway while landing at the Karippur International Airport in Malappuram, Kerala.
According to airport sources, the pilot managed to bring the airplane to a quick halt before any danger could occur after he saw the right wing rubbing the runway. The incident occured at around 9.15 AM All passengers were safe and the aircraft did not suffer any damage except for some paint on the wing getting scraped, the sources said.
A senior airport official said prima facie there was nothing abnormal with landing parameters like weather, wind speed and visibility.
Only a detailed probe including the examination of Flight Data Recorder could give clues on why the aircraft tilted while landing, the official said.
The aircraft has been grounded and engineers from Mumbai were expected to arrive here for detailed check, he added.