AI flight grounded after bird-hit

BHUBANESWAR: Passengers of Delhi-Bhubaneswar-Delhi Air India flight had a harrowing time as the plane was grounded after hitting a bird at Biju Patnaik Airport on Saturday.An engine blade of the aircraft was affected by the bird-hit while it was approaching the runway.  The pilot made a safe landing but the mishap grounded the flight for several hours.The incident occurred at about 2.40 pm when the flight was on its way from Delhi to Bhubaneswar. While approaching the runway, it hit a bird. Since the problem could not be sorted out by the airline ground staff, a team of engineers from Delhi rushed here at 7.40 pm, airport sources said.  The team repaired  four engine blades, which took several hours.  The flight was ready for testing at about 11.30 pm. It was scheduled to return to Delhi at 2.30 am.About 146 passengers, who were to travel to Delhi, had to wait inordinately.  At least half of them either boarded other airlines such as Indigo and Kingfisher or cancelled their trips, while the rest waited for the AI aircraft to be flight- ready.