A day after a Delhi-London-New York Air India flight got heavily delayed due to overfilling of fuels tanks followed by insistence of some passengers to disembark, 47 passengers on board an Allahabad bound AI flight had a narrow escape after the aircraft rammed a ‘Neelgai’ soon after touching down the tarmac at the Ahirwa airport in Kanpur.While the passengers managed to escape unhurt, the 48 seater ATR’s propeller is reported to have incurred damage. IC 7801 was coming from Delhi to Allahabad via Kanpur. After the incident, passengers had to be sent to Allahabad by another aircraft.However, the ‘Neelgai’ on the tarmac is not an isolated incident. The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that as many as 47 cases of entry on to the runway have been reported in the last three years by unauthorised persons and stray and wild animals. The ministry said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued air safety circulars and guidelines regarding apron discipline at airports to prevent unauthorised entry on the runway and regular aerodrome inspections are carried out to reduce such incidents. All Airport Authority of India (AAI) managed airports have constructed walls manned by security guards to prevent unauthorised entry on the runway.
