AAIB issues preliminary report on Air India plane that veered off runway at Mumbai airport in July

AAIB has said that the plane touched down on the right edge while landing, and subsequently its right-hand main wheels and nose wheel entered the grassy area on the right side of runway.

Mumbai: An Air India plane that veered off the runway at the Mumbai airport on July 21 suffered damage to the engine cowl and three main tyres were deflated, according to AAIB's preliminary report on the incident.

The plane touched down on the right edge while landing, and subsequently its right-hand main wheels and nose wheel entered the grassy area on the right side of runway, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has said.

The incident that occurred on July 21 involved an Airbus A320 neo plane, which was operating Air India flight AI 2744 from Kochi for Mumbai with 182 persons on board, including two cockpit crew and five cabin crew members.

No one was injured in the incident.

"While landing at Mumbai Runway 27, the aircraft made a touchdown on the right edge and subsequently its right-hand main wheels and nose wheel entered a grassy area on the right side of runway.

"The aircraft continued its landing roll on the grassy area until the intersection of the runway whereby the aircraft was brought back to the centreline of the runway. The aircraft later taxied on its own power to the bay K5L and parked normally," as per the AAIB preliminary report, posted on its website on Monday.

Initial damage assessment on arrival at the occurrence site revealed that the "main wheels 2, 3, and 4 were found deflated -- cut marks were noticed on main wheels no 2, 3 and 4", as per the report.

It also said the cowl of the second engine was damaged, and added that the second engine fan cowl damage on the second engine was observed on both left hand and right-hand sides.

"Grass ingestion found in right-hand and left-hand main landing gear and nose landing gear (NLG) area," the report added.