Mumbai: Turbulent weather in a 30-mile radius around the island city spelt some bad luck for two Jet Airways flights on Friday evening, with one reporting a lightning strike and another a windowpane crack in the cockpit.
An incoming flight from Chennai (9W-470) requested priority landing at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, when window No 2 on the left side of the cockpit (near the commander's seat) started cracking— “arcing” in aviation parlance.
“The crack appeared while the aircraft was descending from 41,000 feet to 32,000 feet,” said a Jet Airways official. The Boeing 737 aircraft, which had 106 passengers onboard in addition to eight crew members, landed safely at 9.40 pm instead of its original landing time of 8.55 pm.
The second instance—a lightning strike—was reported on Jet Airways flight 9W-383 from Mumbai to Indore, which departed 50 minutes behind schedule at 7:35 pm. The aircraft, with 92 passengers and eight crew members onboard, reported a lightning strike while ascending out of Mumbai.
28/07/07 Lekha Agarwal/Mumbai Newsline
Home 