By IANS
Bangalore : Kingfisher Airlines’ turbo prop aircraft (ATR) bound for Hyderabad aborted its take-off from the Bangalore airport late Thursday. All 25 passengers onboard were safe, the airline spokesman said.
“The pilot of the 50-seater ATR aircraft aborted taking off from the runway after he spotted a stray dog crossing the path at a distance. Barring minor injuries to two persons, all passengers are safe,” an airline spokesman told IANS.
The pilot applied emergency brakes to slow down the plane and averted a major mishap on the runway. The incident happened around 9.55 p.m. The flight had a reject take-off in the commercial aviation jargon.
Meanwhile, an Airport Authority of India (AAI) official said the runway would be blocked for the next two hours as the Kingfisher aircraft was stranded on it.
“Efforts are on to tow away the aircraft and resume operations. The nose of the aircraft is damaged slightly. We had rushed fire engines and rescue teams to attend the stranded passengers,” the official said.
Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) sources said directions were given for the restoring the runway traffic at the earliest.