Latest news with #Hyderabad-bound
Time of India
3 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Mid-air scare: Flight with 165 onboard makes emergency landing in Chennai; technical snag reported
NEW DELHI: A Hyderabad-bound private carrier, with 159 passengers and six crew members, returned to Chennai after a technical snag was detected mid-air near Nellore, on Sunday. According to airport officials, as soon as the snag was detected, the pilot safely landed the aircraft in Chennai after consulting the authorities.
Hans India
22-06-2025
- Hans India
Prioritise security across public transport modes
In an era where threats can emerge unexpectedly, a vital aspect of 'Appropriate preventive safety measures' for 'public transport' call for a systemic action, especially in the light of recent Air India flight crash in Ahmedabad, killing 260 people. Likewise, due to a bomb threat, the Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight made a U-turn, back to Frankfurt airport. In both cases, passengers who are not just travellers, were held hostage by inadequate safeguards, reactive systems, and a lack of anticipatory intelligence. And hence, even the most 'regulated modes of transport' are vulnerable. It is precisely this loss of help, this captivity under crisis, that modern transport systems must counter through smart design and AI-backed security infrastructure, and protocols. In an era where security threats are likely to disrupt not only peace but lives, paradoxically, in public carriages, rigorous, proactive safety screening is conspicuously abandoned despite the compelling preventive needs. It is time to introspect as to why mandatory, advance-level security clearance and screening for every public transport vehicle, which is not just a means of movement, but is a moving microcosm of society, carrying lives, valuables, and luggage is absent. Multi-layered pre-boarding checks at all concerned places, AI-powered surveillance, and predictive threat assessments at terminals, randomized inspection protocols, cybersecurity audits of communication and control systems etc. without waiting for the tragedy to take place must be made compulsory. Strangely, vehicles that carry the largest number of anonymous citizens every single day, such as public transport buses, trains, and even certain flights, often remain dangerously vulnerable to silent threats, both human and systemic. For instance, as a curious contradiction, seldom a systematic and scientific check is done, to prevent a miscreant boarding with a concealed weapon or inflammable substance in a fully occupied state-run road transport bus plying on an interstate route at midnight, or into a sleeper coach train. The scenario is not hypothetical. Every tragedy in public transport leads to inquiry, outrage, and compensation. The time has come to shift from reaction to prevention, not just in rhetoric but in process, design, and policy. Every public and private transport vehicle must be subject to an intelligent and evolving security grid carefully without excessive militarization or harassment. Leveraging AI dovetailing human vigilance is desirable and important. AI-driven mobile response teams must replace the outdated physical policing. This model, preferably in PPP mode, is to be designed as 'security must travel with passengers but need not stay static at entry points. Such systems save lives, build public trust, and reduce economic losses due to panic, disruption, and rescue operations. All it takes is the government's will, wisdom, and a willingness to let intelligence, whether artificial or human, work together before it is too late. A 'normalized helplessness' as part of public transport has been, once a passenger boards, he or she is by and large, essentially captive to the system. There is no functional or scientific exit strategy when it encounters a malfunction, fire breaks out, mechanical failure occurs and some threat onboard, among others. Most post-incident inquiries evade or dilute through collective accountability or unaccountability. For every public safety system, clear prioritization of responsibility is essential. To 'prevent tragedies and not just mourn them' establishing a chain of accountability mechanisms that work both preemptively and retrospectively is what is required. Vision, regulation and resource allocation by policymakers and regulatory authorities make all the difference. Law should mandate AI screening, real-time monitoring, functional emergency exits, or passenger drills. If AI-based protocols are not followed, transport operators; terminal level security and operations heads; onboard crew and drivers or pilots; security and maintenance vendors; auditing and safety certification bodies shall all be held responsible. Accountability must flow from the top down, not the bottom up. Fixing responsibility must begin before the tragedy and not after. However, India can still credibly claim superiority in many aspects of public transport safety and crisis management, particularly in how it responds to threats, handles complexity, and manages sheer scale. Millions of passengers by Indian Railways, by air, on state-run buses, metros, and regional services, travel frequently, which is unmatched by any standards. Catastrophic incidents are rare, and when they occur, rescue and mitigation mechanisms are rapidly deployed. This itself is a testament to a deeply embedded resilience. And yet, there remains a realm beyond comprehension, a zone where science stares into silence and logic yields to mystery. From unexplained tragedies over the Bermuda Triangle, to perfectly functional machines vanishing without trace, the human experience of transport is not just about movement, but about vulnerability before the unknown. It is here that Indian civilizational wisdom gently reminds us of Karma Siddhanta, the cosmic principle that every event, joy or sorrow, accident, or escape, is somehow tethered to a greater arc of causality beyond immediate visibility. This does not mean surrender to fate or withdrawal from responsibility. Quite the opposite. It means doing our utmost in dharma, designing safety, demanding accountability, embracing technology, and then, whatever comes, receiving it with the steadiness of inner trust. Well, when all systems are in place, and still, something slips through, we turn not to blame, but to balance, accepting that predetermination is not helplessness, but a form of harmony between action and acceptance.
NDTV
19-06-2025
- General
- NDTV
Tirupati-Bound SpiceJet Flight Returns To Hyderabad After Technical Snag
Hyderabad: A SpiceJet flight from Hyderabad to Tirupati returned 10 minutes after taking off from Hyderabad airport due to a technical problem on Thursday. The flight SG 2696 with 80 passengers on board had taken off for Tirupati from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad at 6.10 a.m. However, minutes later, the pilot detected a technical problem. He immediately contacted Air Traffic Control and sought permission to return to the airport. The airlines stated that a SpiceJet Q400 aircraft operating the Hyderabad-Tirupati flight experienced an intermittent illumination of the AFT baggage door light after take-off. "Cabin pressurisation remained normal throughout. As a precautionary measure, the pilots decided to return to Hyderabad. The aircraft landed safely and passengers were deplaned normally," it said. SpiceJet clarified that the aircraft did not make an emergency landing. An alternate aircraft has been arranged to operate the onward journey to Tirupati. In the wake of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which claimed over 270 lives, including on the ground, many flights across various airlines and routes were cancelled or diverted due to technical snags and security threats. On June 15, a Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt returned to the German airport after a bomb threat was received at the Hyderabad airport. Authorities at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport received a bomb threat email at 6.01 p.m. on June 15. According to officials, a bomb threat assessment committee was formed, and all procedures were followed as per SOP. In the interest of safety, the airline was advised to divert back to the origin or the nearest suitable airport. Later, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad received a message that the flight was returning to Frankfurt. The flight took off from Frankfurt airport around 2.15 p.m. It had not entered the Indian airspace when it returned. After two hours into its journey, Flight LH752 returned and safely landed at Frankfurt airport. On June 12, an Air India plane crashed minutes after taking off for London Gatwick Airport from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, killing 241 out of 242 people on board. The tragedy also claimed the lives of 33 people on the ground.
Time of India
19-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Unusual bird activity poses threat to flight movements at Pune airport
1 2 3 Pune: An unusual presence of birds sighted in the airspace and near the runway at Lohegaon airport on June 5 forced the air traffic control to divert a Pune-bound IndiGo flight from Delhi to Surat minutes before touchdown. On May 20, it was a nightmare for passengers on board a Hyderabad-bound IndiGo aircraft as they were made to sit for six hours while the ATC was waiting for the runway to be cleared of winged guests and also to allow some defence-related work to complete before signalling a take-off. Two incidents in two months paint a grim picture of the aircraft's growing vulnerability to unusual bird movements. Aviation experts have blamed the mushrooming eateries, commercial establishments, and high-rises surrounding the Pune airport compound, part of an Indian Air Force (IAF) base, and the unattended piles of garbage on their premises for the increasing bird activity. "Permission for constructions could be according to norms, but additional storeys are coming up and monitoring is minimal. Lohegaon is a frontline IAF base set up during the second world war and was once secluded. It is only during operations such as Sindoor that one realises the importance of these bases," Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (retired) said, adding that the focus should be on developing the new airport in Purandar. Former airport director Deepak Shastri said no concrete steps are being taken to control encroachments and constructions around the airport. "There is an aerodrome environment management committee consisting of all stakeholders including the civic body. It has to meet periodically and find solutions to problems like garbage. The airport authorities need to tell us when the last meeting was held and what came out of that meeting?" These bird-related incidents might not be happening due to construction activities but because of improper garbage management by the establishments in and around the airport including in Vimannagar, said PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram. "The issue has come to my attention and I am going to hold a meeting soon to find out what more can be done to control the problem." Sandip Kadam, head of PMC's waste management department, however, claimed that garbage is lifted every day, and the focus is to ensure that it does not get accumulated. "An awareness campaign to sensitise people not to throw leftover foods in open areas near the airport will soon be undertaken," he said. Ornithologist Satish Pande, founder of Ela Foundation, told TOI that scavenging birds like crows, pigeons, kites and herons fly low and they run into a flight approaching an airport. "Many of the Indian airports, including in Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata, are surrounded by human habitation. We all know that garbage collection is a problem, and they lure these birds. Nowadays, aircraft engines are designed to ingest a bird up to a certain size, but a flock can cause serious damage," he said. Captain Arpit Manshani, who flies airplanes and choppers, said bird hits can range from no impact to bringing down a huge jet in the Hudson (in 2009). "We need to understand if the bird hit was big or small; where it hit — windshield, engine intake, rotor blade of helicopter or wing of airplane. Was it a flock of birds or just a single? What phase of flight were you in? Did it happen during take-off, landing, or cruising? What is the extent of damage — can you see it physically, did you hear an unusual sound, or any of the flight parameters is off. The critical thing is decision making by the pilots — from being vigilant about birds to avoiding them at the last second to taking right action after analysing the strike," he said. The IAF campus is spread over 3,200 acres and the perimeter wall is shared by Lohegaon and Wagholi areas. Last week's flight diversion prompted the IAF, which manages the runway and the ATC tower, to set up a bird-scraping squad among a series of measures. However, ornithologist Pande said one needs to take wildlife hazard management seriously. "There are high rises near airports and pigeons naturally perceive them as their nesting sites. Unfortunately, authorities take a casual approach while hiring people to mitigate the bird menace." Pune airport director Santosh Dhoke said, "The runway is managed by the IAF and they have been taking measures to keep it clear of bird movements. We are constantly coordinating with the PMC regarding different issues related to keeping the areas near the airport compound clean." A study published by Salim Ali Centre for Orthinology and Natural History on 'Best Practices for the Mitigation of the Hazards Posed by Birds to Aircraft' has recommended that buildings near airports be covered with bird proofing barriers. Sewerage treatment plants or open canals passing through the airfield should be completely covered, and water flows associated with irrigation and open stagnant water should be prevented. Feeding of birds by people within a two-km radius of the airport should be discouraged, the report said.
Deccan Herald
18-06-2025
- Deccan Herald
Cancelled, diverted, terminated: All about flight disruptions post Ahmedabad's Air India plane crash
Many flights across various airlines and routes were cancelled or diverted due to various reasons, including technical snags and security threats, since the devastating Ahmedabad crash. Air India flight to Delhi returned to Phuket after 'security alert' on June 13 Hyderabad-bound Lufthansa flight returned to Frankfurt due to 'bomb threat' on June 16 Delhi-bound IndiGo flight made emergency landing in Nagpur after bomb threat Air India Express Guwahati-Kolkata flight delayed by over 18 hours British Airways Chennai flight returned to London mid-air due to technical snag Saudia's Haj flight caused alarm after smoke detected from wheels while landing Air India cancelled 83 flights since the devastating Ahmedabad crash
