Air India A350 Noise: An Air India Airbus A350 plane had to stop its trip to London and come back to Delhi on Thursday after a strange problem showed up again during the flight. This was the second time in just 10 days that the same aircraft, registered as VT-JRF, could not finish a long international journey because of trouble linked to strong vibration, loud noise, and movement felt in the lower cargo area of the plane.
The aircraft was flying as AI 111 from Delhi to London. When it was in Oman airspace, the problem came back. After that, the airline decided it was safer to return to Delhi. The plane stayed in the air for more than seven hours before landing back at the airport in Delhi.
Earlier Trouble in Aircraft
This was not the first time this exact plane had this issue. The same thing had already happened on March 16, when VT-JRF was flying from New York to Delhi as AI 102. During that flight, passengers sitting in rows 32 and 33 felt the floor shaking under their feet. They also heard loud sound coming from below. The vibrations and noise made them nervous, so they told the cabin crew.
At that time, the plane was near the coast of Ireland. Because of the reports from passengers, the pilots chose to divert the flight to Shannon. The aircraft landed there safely with 300 people on board. After that, the plane stayed on the ground in Shannon for inspection and checks that Airbus had asked for.
Once those checks were done and the steps suggested by Airbus were completed, the aircraft flew back to Delhi on March 19. After returning, it operated 10 flights. These included Delhi-London-Delhi trips and Delhi-New York flights that stopped in Rome. Everything seemed normal on those flights until the same problem came back again on Thursday.
DGCA Begins Probe
A DGCA official spoke about the latest case and said: “Air India A350 aircraft VT-JRF operating flight AI 111 (returned to Delhi) due to excessive noise issue experienced by the flight crew. The aircraft turned back from near OMAN airspace. Earlier the same issue was encountered on this aircraft while operating flight AI 102 (New York (JFK)-Delhi) on March 16. Then maintenance/inspection was carried out on the aircraft in consultation with Airbus and no deficiency was observed. Since then the aircraft has flown 10 sectors without any abnormality. Officers from airworthiness and air safety directorate will investigate the aircraft.”
The A350-900 had taken off from Delhi at 5.42 am on Thursday. It landed back at IGIA at 12.51 pm. After the return, passengers could not continue on that same flight. “Passengers will be sent to hotels and alternate arrangements are being made for their travel,” said sources.
Safety Questions
This fresh problem has again raised questions about safety and checks on long-haul flights. A poll linked to the report asked people, “Do you think current safety measures in commercial flights are adequate?” The two answer choices were, “Yes, they’re sufficient” and “No, more measures are needed.”
