Hubballi-bound flight hovers in air for 4 hours, finally lands in Bengaluru

HUBBALLI: Passengers of a Hyderabad-Hubballi flight (IC 3401) had a harrowing time as the aircraft was hovering for four hours in the sky till it was diverted to Bengaluru, on Sunday evening. The passengers were also not treated with even basic courtesy. While some of the flyers attributed it to a technical snag, the airline claimed that weather conditions forced the diversion of the flight.

Flight IC 3401 (ATR turboprop AT7) of Fly91 Airlines, which had commenced operations just two days ago, reportedly developed a technical snag. As it was approaching Hubballi, the flight suddenly lost control and hovered in the sky for about four hours, circling around Mundgod, Davangere and Shivamogga, before finally landing at Bengaluru airport at 7.30 pm.

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The flight had taken off from Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at 3 pm on Sunday and was scheduled to land in Hubballi at 4.30pm. But as it neared Hubballi, the plane lost control and swung like a cradle. The pilot made several attempts to land in Hubballi, but was unsuccessful. Because of this, it kept circling in the sky for about four hours.

Distressed passengers folded their hands and prayed to God inside the aircraft, shedding tears. Passengers sent messages to family members on mobile saying, “It’s doubtful we’ll return alive”, calling it their ‘final message’. After that, the plane landed safely in Bengaluru at 7.30 pm. However, passengers are upset with Fly91 Airlines staff. There are allegations that the staff showed negligence by not providing any information about the flight incident and behaved inhumanely with passengers after the incident.

Meanwhile, Hubballi airport’s acting director Praveen Jadhav, clarifying to the media, said, “Fly91 was supposed to land in Hubballi at 4.30 pm yesterday. Due to adverse weather yesterday, it could not land. It flew in the sky for an hour and then landed in Bengaluru. There were 18 passengers on Fly91. Information about the inhumane behavior of the staff will be given to the company”.

Affected passengers say that strict action should be taken against the airline concerned.