Nepal Airlines Airbus grounded at TIA after tyre burst during landing
September 13, 2016 – Kathmandu
National Flag Carrier Nepal Airlines Airbus 320-233 registered 9N-AKX left main landing gear tyre got burst during landing at Tribhuvan International Airport while entering Taxiway from runway after touch down on Tuesday afternoon at 12:40 PM.
The flight outbound from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), India and suffered a minor damage. Had it been in crucial phase of landing the burst of tyre could make a misbalanced landing roll resulting an uncontrollable aircraft.
Passengers were evacuated and disembarked from the runway and was cleared from the runway by towing it towards the parking through taxiway. The aircraft was then further towed towards the hangar of Nepal Airlines.
The ill-fated aircraft was being commanded by Captain Vijay Lama with First Officer Sanjay Poudel who safely evacuated the 150 passengers with one infant and altogether of 8 crew members.
After the incident, the single runway of TIA was closed for a moment after 12:50 PM and after the aircraft was cleared it was opened momentarily.
Another Airbus 320 registered 9N-AKW aircraft of same series lies grounded at IGI Airport after it made an emergency landing suffering a technical glitch. The aircraft piloted by Captain Subarna Awale had 152 passengers and eight crew members onboard made a safe landing with no any injuries or damage to the aircraft.
NAC has also cancelled all Airbus-sector flights to New Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Mumbai until further notice. The grounding of both the Airbus aircraft limits the airline to only one remaining Boeing 757 aircraft therefore it is trying to reschedule few flights with the only left aircraft according to a spokesperson Mr. Ram Hari Sharma of NAC.
