VASCO: An Air Asia flight that was supposed to depart on Sunday morning was forced to abort its take-off for 50 minutes after Air Traffic Controller spotted a dog on the runway of the International Airport of Dabolim, informed a Naval source.
According to the Naval source, Navy spokesperson tweeted “At about 8.25h today when #AirAsia flight 778 was rolling for takeoff at @aaigoaairport alert ATC spotted a dog entering runway & immediately informed pilot who aborted takeoff. The flight departed 0915h after additional technical checks.@SpokespersonMoD @DefenseMinIndia”.
It is pertinent to note that this is the second incident to take place as the earlier one was reported last month wherein the early morning flight had to cancel its landing at last minute after pilot spotted a pack of dogs on the runway.
The first tweet was followed by the another wherein a Naval spokesperson tweeted “#INSHansa has proactively taken steps to relocate dogs from vicinity of runway. Under MOU of #IndianNavy with Department of Animal Husbandry, nearly 60 dogs have been relocated since mid August @DDNewsLive @PIB_Panaji @PIB_India @airnewsalerts”.
Chief of Safety of AirAsia India in a statement said as a stray dog was spotted on the runway, Goa ATC cancelled the takeoff clearance of I5-778 scheduled to operate between Goa and New Delhi.
“The aircraft had just commenced its takeoff roll. The sighting was confirmed by Goa ATC and has since also been reported to DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation),” he said.
The same aircraft and crew thereafter operated after a delay of several minutes, he said.
“AirAsia India regrets the delay caused on account of this to any guest travelling onboard. We state that we place safety foremost and the delay was caused due to reasons beyond our control,” he added.
The flight later departed for New Delhi, the source informed.
Commercial airline companies in Goa operate their planes from the civil enclave of INS Hansa, an airbase of the Indian Navy.
AirAsia India currently has a fleet of 22 aircraft covering 19 destinations across the country.
It may be recalled that recently, State Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho during a review meeting at the Airport Authority’s Administrative Office at Dabolim had instructed the stakeholders to curb stray dog menace by preventing them from moving along the runway.
Though the Indian Navy and AAI claim to have effected positive changes, the stray dog menace continues.
