SILCHAR, June 12 � A tyre of a Silchar-bound Jet Airways plane from Kolkata, with around 47 people onboard, was found deflated after it landed at Silchar, on Friday, following which the flight was stalled for some hours.
According to sources at the Silchar airport, the ATR flight (9W-2875) departed from the Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International Airport landed safely at the Silchar airport this morning at 6:30 am, but when it was to take off for Guwahati at 7:10 am one of its tyres was found deflated.
Interestingly, Minister of Agriculture, Panchayat and Rural Development Rockybul Hussain who was supposed to travel to Guwahati by the flight had to finally alter his tour schedule because of the glitch.
Spare tyres along with engineers and technicians were sent from Kolkata by another plane at 12 noon, following which it was repaired, and it departed for its destination at 1:03 pm after a delay of about five hours, a source confirmed.
Even as there was no major damage because of the deflation, a passenger, on condition of anonymity said that they had felt momentary jerk during landing. On the other hand, it is learnt from sources that the puncture was noticed while the flight was taxing in during the routine check-up.
It may be mentioned that, a similar incident of tyre deflation occurred at the Silchar airport in August 2013 when an ATR flight AI 9707 experienced a tyre puncture while the boarding was in progress.
