A Vistara flight bound from Mumbai to Delhi hit a serious snag on its way to Delhi because of bad weather conditions. The Vistara flight had 153 passengers onboard. As per the reports of the incident available, the Vistara flight in question was bound to Delhi but because of bad weather conditions, was diverted to Lucknow. At the Lucknow airport, the Vistara flight landed with critically low fuel levels. The fuel levels of the flight were so low that the aircraft could have only managed 10 more minutes of fly-time. The reports highlight that the aircraft barely had 300 kgs of fuel left in the tank, a number which is dangerously low from the aviation standards.
Vistara Declares Fuel-Mayday on Mumbai-Delhi Flight
The pilots on their way to Lucknow airport had to declare a fuel-mayday to the Air Traffic Control to indicate the seriousness of the issue. In its statement, Vistara said that on route to Lucknow, the visibility suddenly dropped which led the pilots to consider other options like Kanpur and Prayagraj. However, after weather conditions cleared back in Lucknow, the pilots had to turn back to make a landing thus leading to the dangerous situation with low fuel in the aircraft.
Vistara Ensures Passenger and Crew Safety as Highest Priority
Vistara in its statement clarified, "En route Prayagraj, Lucknow ATC informed the crew that the weather in Lucknow had improved significantly following which the crew decided to return to Lucknow due to better passenger and aircraft support.” The airline further added, "The unexpected drop in visibility at the designated alternate was the main reason why the aircraft ended up in a low-fuel situation despite carrying excess fuel over and above the required Flight Plan Fuel as per regulations.” It also said that the safety of passengers and the crew was "kept at the highest priority throughout the flight".
According to a report by NDTV, the aviation experts said that a flight in the Mumbai-Delhi sector lands with 60-minutes worth of fuel in the tank. This fuel is kept in case the flight needs to be diverted to some other airport. However, in this case the fuel was critically low. As per another ANI coverage, a Vistara pilot has been grounded over the incident.