An Air India aircraft, bound for a flight to San Francisco, caught fire on Wednesday (April 24) night during a routine repair of the air conditioner at the Delhi airport.
The auxiliary power unit (APU) of a Boeing B777-200LR (VT-ALF) flight, was damaged. The fire brigade was present at the scene and doused the fire immediately. According to reports, the plane was on the runway and was empty at the time of the incident.
#WATCH Air India Delhi to San Francisco (Boeing 777) flight caught fire in Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) yesterday at Delhi airport. Fire started during AC repair. Air India terms it minor incident, plane was empty at the time of repair work, fire was doused immediately. pic.twitter.com/Og790FVABE
— ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2019
"Yesterday night at Delhi when an engineer was doing a routine technical examination of an empty aircraft (777), APU auto shut down took place. Airport fire personnel observed black fumes from the APU exhaust and believing it to be a fire hazard sprayed APU and part of the fuselage with foam spray," a statement released by Air India on Thursday read.
They added, "After this event, APU was examined by opening its cowlings and there was no trace of any burn or external damage noticed except for the minor oil leaks traces, which was normal. A detailed inspection is going."
This is not the first mishap of an Air India aircraft. In October 2018, an Air India flight travelling from Tiruchirappalli to Dubai had unknowingly hit the perimeter wall while take-off. The pilots in the flight came to know of the incident when they were over the Arabian Sea. They had to turn back and make an emergency landing in Mumbai to repair the damage caused to the underside of the flight.
