An air ambulance with five persons on board made a belly landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on Thursday night after the aircraft lost a wheel during take-off from Nagpur.
The Beechcraft VT-JIL aircraft on the way from Nagpur to Hyderabad declared a full emergency and made a belly landing at 9:09 pm, officials said. According to Mumbai International Airport Ltd officials, the non-scheduled aircraft, VT-JIL was carrying 2 crew members, a doctor, a paramedic, and a patient.
Soon after takeoff, the nose-wheel of the aircraft fell off forcing a diversion to Mumbai where it landed at 21:09 hours amidst full emergency preparedness.
“The airport's emergency response team, including the fire and rescue responders, follow-me vehicles, CISF, medical team amongst many others, was activated instantly, and was on standby to provide immediate assistance to ensure the safe evacuation of the passengers,” officials said.
As a precautionary method, CSMIA also foamed RWY 27 in order to avoid the aircraft from catching fire.
All passengers were evacuated safely and flights operating in and out of CSMIA remain on schedule.
The aircraft is a Turboprop operated by Jet Serve and was piloted safely down by Captain Keshri Singh.
In a tweet, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, "A Jet Serve ambulance with a patient onboard lost a wheel during takeoff from Nagpur. Showing immense presence of mind Capt Kesari Singh belly landed the aircraft on foam carpeting in Mumbai. All onboard are safe." He also praised the CSMIA and DGCA.
Singh also tweeted a video of the incident and lauded the efforts of the crew and ground professionals. "This video captures the crucial moments after belly landing of the ambulance flight on foam carpet in Mumbai after it lost a wheel during takeoff from Nagpur. All onboard are safe. Kudos to the crew & ground professionals," he tweeted.
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