Close shave at Udaipur airport

According to officials, the aircraft developed some problem in its flaps and landed at a much higher speed than the prescribed limit. For an Airbus 320 the prescribed landing speed is 240-260 km per hour. The Ran Air aircraft, which is much lighter, landed at nearly the same speed and as a result its right tyre burst causing the plane to skid.

Officials of the Udaipur airport could provide little information regarding the identity of the four passengers of the unscheduled flight. They said they were foreign executives.

8220;We are at present busy handling the incident and cannot discuss such details,8221; said Rajiv Mehta, DGM, ATC of Udaipur. The runway was made functional by late Wednesday evening.

A team from the DGCA has left for investigating the incident. 8220;Since there is damage to aircraft we have rushed a team to investigate the incident. Depending on its findings we will decide whether to treat this incident as accident or not,8221; said a senior DGCA official.

The Ran Air has five aircraft and one helicopter in its fleet. The airline8217;s officials could not be contacted despite several attempts.