Days after certainly one of SpiceJet’s Bombardier Q400 turboprop plane made an emergency touchdown at Hyderabad brought on by smoke within the cabin, the Directorate Normal of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Monday directed SpiceJet to hold out evaluation of engine oil samples from its Q400 fleet and a slew of different inspections.
The newest instructions additionally come at a time when SpiceJet is already underneath the improved surveillance of DGCA. Following a spate of incidents involving the airline’s planes, the regulator, on July 27, capped the utmost flights that may be operated by it to 50 per cent.
Final month, the curbs had been prolonged until October 29. “DGCA is preserving an in depth watch on the state of affairs and shall take all applicable motion to avert any untoward incident,” it stated in a press release on Monday.
Spicejet plane VT-SQB was concerned in an incident of ‘smoke in cabin’ throughout descent necessitating an emergency touchdown at Hyderabad. The passengers had been safely evacuated with the help of cabin crew and airport employees: DGCA pic.twitter.com/amZwtrKNQK
— ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022
On October 12, a SpiceJet airplane coming from Goa made an emergency touchdown at Hyderabad airport following the incident of smoke within the cabin.
The regulator has requested the airline to take the engine oil samples and ship them to Pratt & Whitney Canada for PW150A oil evaluation know-how. That is to establish if there may be “presence of steel and carbon seal particles”.
DGCA additionally identified that other than the Hyderabad incident, there was additionally the same incident within the current previous involving the PWC 150A engine, which had additionally store visited Normal Aero-Singapore for overhaul. On this context, SpiceJet has been directed that “no engine shall be despatched to Normal Aero-Singapore until the investigation is accomplished”.
After analyzing the matter intimately, the DGCA has known as for varied further measures. There have been 86 passengers onboard the Q400 airplane that made the emergency touchdown at Hyderabad airport on October 12. All of the passengers had been evacuated safely. In current months, the airline has been grappling with operational and monetary headwinds.