Pakistan ignores passenger safety! IndiGo's airspace request to avoid turbulence denied, says DGCA

In a statement on Friday, DGCA said the IndiGo crew first contacted Northern Control (IAF) for deviation towards the left (International border). When it was refused, the crew contracted Lahore to enter their airspace to avoid turbulent weather.

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Srinagar: Pakistan denied its airspace to an Indian civilian plane that was in distress due to turbulence, a statement from Directorate General of Civil Aviation confirmed on Friday. An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Srinagar faced severe turbulence on Tuesday evening due to a sudden hailstorm near Srinagar. Flight 6E2142 was approaching Srinagar Airport when the pilot declared an emergency with Indian Air Traffic Control. The hailstorm caused visible damage to the aircraft’s nose cone.

In a statement on Friday, DGCA said the IndiGo crew first contacted Northern Control (IAF) for deviation towards the left (International border). When it was refused, the crew contracted Lahore to enter their airspace to avoid turbulent weather. “The crew initially attempted to return back but as they were close to the thunderstorm cloud, they decided to penetrate the weather. Subsequently, they encountered hailstorm and severe turbulence. The crew chose to continue at the same heading to exit the weather by the shortest route towards Srinagar,” the statement read.

There were 227 passengers and crew members on board, who were evacuated without injury. Despite the safe landing, the aircraft suffered considerable damage from the storm, leading IndiGo to classify it as “Aircraft on Ground” (AOG), meaning it has been grounded pending urgent inspection and repairs.

How did the flight navigate?

While the aircraft was in the thunderstorm cloud, warnings appeared for an Angle of Attack fault, loss of Alternate Law protection, and unreliable backup speed readings.Due to updraft and down draft encountered by the aircraft, the Autopilot mode tripped and aircraft speed had wide variations. As a result, VMO/MMO (Maximum Operating Speed/Mach) and repeated stall warnings were triggered. During this time, the aircraft's descent rate reached 8,500 feet per minute. The crew manually flew the aircraft until they exited the hailstorm. After completing all ECAM checklist actions, they declared a PAN PAN to Srinagar ATC and made a request for RADAR vectors and made a safe landing with Auto Thrust operating normally at Srinagar Airport.

The Nose radome was damaged, and the DGCA has launched an investigation into the matter.