… Accident closes a runway

An accident involving a cargo flight on Wednesday morning led to the main runway closing for 50 minutes.

The main runway was closed from 8.10 to 9 am. This was to clear glass pieces of the runway edge lights which were broken as an aircraft had hit them while departing, said an MIAL spokesperson.

The Blue Dart aircraft had taken off at 5.20 am. Only when it landed in Bangalore did officials there notice glass pieces in the fuselage.

On checking,Mumbai airport officials found glass pieces on the runway.

Officials said it was likely the pilot had not aligned the aircraft correctly during takeoff.

The DGCA will probe the incident. A Blue Dart Aviation flight BZ201,encountered a tyre deflation on arrival at Bangalore Airport today. An investigation is in progress, said a Blue Dart spokesperson.

The morning hours are very busy at the Mumbai airport. There was a lot of congestion with flights waiting to take off, said an ATC official.

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M G Jhungare,ATC GM,said the secondary runway was in use,ensuring operations continued.

It was the second day in a row that the runway had been closed. On Tuesday,it was closed till 11.30 am due to pre-monsoon work that resulted in massive delays.

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