IndiGo Sharjah-Hyderabad flight diverted to Pakistan’s Karachi after pilot reports technical defect | India Business News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: An IndiGo aircraft winging its way from Sharjah to Hyderabad on Saturday-Sunday midnight had to be diverted to Karachi following an engine snag indication.
The Airbus A320 landed safely there and IndiGo is sending a ferry flight to Karachi to fly the passengers to Hyderabad from there.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has order a probe into this issue.
This is the second instance of an Indian carrier’s commercial flight diverting to Karachi due to a suspected snag within a fortnight. On July 5, a SpiceJet Boeing 737 MAX operating from Delhi to Dubai with nearly 160 people on board had to divert to Karachi following a suspected fuel leak.

About IndiGo diversion, sources said: “Pilots got an indication of a snag warning for engine number 2. Airbus bulletin prescribes that unless this particular warning recurs twice, an aircraft should not divert and continue to its destination. However as a matter of abundant precaution, the pilots decided to divert to Karachi.”
An IndiGo spokesperson said: “IndiGo flight 6E-1406, operating from Sharjah to Hyderabad, was diverted to Karachi. The pilot observed a technical defect. Necessary procedures were followed and as a precaution, the aircraft was diverted to Karachi. An additional flight is being sent to Karachi to fly the passengers to Hyderabad.”
According to flight tracking websites, the flight had taken off from Sharjah at 11.02 pm Saturday for a just under 4-hour journey to Hyderabad. After the snag warning, it diverted to Karachi where it landed at 2.15 am Sunday (all timings local).

This is the second reported case of a suspected engine snag with IndiGo in as many days amid an ongoing agitation by its aircraft maintenance technicians at Delhi and Hyderabad who are protesting poor pay. The technicians have even written to Airbus about the airline allegedly not following maintenance procedures.
Its Delhi-Vadodara flight on July 14 had diverted to Jaipur as a precautionary measure following an engine snag. There were vibrations in the engines for a fraction of a second. The pilots decided to divert to Jaipur as a precautionary measure.

On July 5, a Vistara Airbus A320 had to be towed to the terminal after landing safely at Delhi Airport from Bangkok. Post runway vacation, one engine was shut down for single-engine taxi. During single-engine taxi at the end of the taxiway, the other engine failed. Subsequently, the aircraft was towed to the parking bay.
“In last four months, there have been at least one Pratt & Whitney and three CFM engine snags. They all had different issues and were commanded shut down. They are being investigated closely in consultation with the original equipment manufacturers (PW & CFM),” said senior DGCA officials investigating these snags had recently told TOI.
Engine manufacturers say the “environment” of the Middle East and India — hot, dusty, sandy and humid (in India’s case) — is the most difficult for their machines. The behaviour of engines in cold and dry places is different than those operating in a harsh environment, they say, adding that this issue is being taken care of through technological means.
Watch IndiGo Sharjah-Hyderabad flight develops engine snag, diverted to Karachi