If Not The Alertness Of Pilot & Traffic Controller

Fire on your left engine," an air controller screamed to the pilot at 6.29am. "Mayday! Mayday!" Captain Ajay Keri, the pilot of flight S2-361, shouted back into the radio. These were the terse distress messages swapped after a JetLite aircraft sustained a bird-hit soon after taking off from Kolkata for Guwahati on Saturday morning. With Friday's images of the US Airways Airbus floating on the Hudson still fresh, the controller acted promptly on spotting smoke billowing out of the left engine of the Boeing 737-800. After warning the pilot, he alerted ground services to prepare for an emergency landing.

Just the day before, a flock of geese got sucked into two engines of the US Airways Airbus A320 and forced captain Chesley Sullenberger to make a dramatic splashdown on the river. Like the Hudson hero, Captain Keri, too, showed presence of mind after being alerted about the fire ignited by a kite getting sucked into the left engine of his Boeing. He took the crucial step of cutting off fuel supply to the damaged engine to prevent the fire spreading. Once that was done, he returned for an emergency landing.

The 38 passengers and five crew members of the aircraft survived a potential disaster due to the alertness of Keri and the traffic controller. Inspections later revealed that the engine was badly damaged. "A detailed probe is in progress. An overall assessment of Kolkata airport surroundings (to find what attracts birds here) is also being conducted," Director General of Civil Aviation Nasim Zaidi said. The B-737 aircraft has two engines. When one engine fails, the pilot has a problem balancing the aircraft but it can still be managed. On Saturday, the automated fire extinguishing system (AFES) on board functioned properly, preventing the fire from spreading beyond the engine.

An Airports Authority of India official later said dense fog had reduced visibility when the flight took off. "The bird had not been spotted from either the cockpit or the ATC due to poor visibility. Fortunately, the traffic controller saw the flame just in time to alert the pilot. The aircraft had then soared to barely 500 feet," the official said. After being alerted, the pilot sought emergency landing clearance and requested for more airspace to enable a slow turn for a safer approach. He aligned the aircraft with the runway, scanned the instrument panel, murmured a prayer and descended. Minutes later, the wheels touched down softly. Fire trucks raced in. The passengers were herded into buses and taken to the terminal. They were later accommodated on an Air India flight that took off at 10 am.

"The incident that happened today should never happen. Though chances of two birds striking the two engines are remote, it cannot be ruled out. If a plane encounters a flock during takeoff, the unforeseen can happen. It can then be disastrous," an airline pilot said, adding that there have been several close calls in the past and had been reported to AAI.