IndiGo flight faces mid-air engine vibrations, second incident in a week

One of the IndiGo’s aircraft A320-neo which had departed from Mumbai airport had to come back due to high engine vibrations mid-air. The airline said in a statement that the pilot of the IndiGo flight 6E-236 which had taken off at 9:38 am on Thursday morning decided to turn back after seeing a caution advisory in the instrument panel. 

"An IndiGo A320-neo aircraft was operating Mumbai-Bangalore this morning. During the flight, the pilot observed a caution message. Standard operating procedures were followed and the aircraft was returned to Mumbai as a precaution," the statement read.

READ | IndiGo: PW Engine Issue Is Likely To Have An Impact On Future Capacity

Second incident in a week

This is the second IndiGo A320-neo aircraft which has encountered vibration issues with one of its engines. In both cases, the aircraft was grounded, pending inspections and a clearance to fly. On December 2, another Indigo A320-neo flying from Chennai to Hyderabad faced the same issue after which it had to be grounded.

READ | IndiGo Asks CAT IIIB Trained Pilot Flying As Passenger To Operate Flight To Delhi

Reportedly, at around 4,000 feet, the message appeared momentarily, thereafter vibrations were experienced for about 35 seconds after reaching a height of 10,000 feet. The aircraft is said to have an older version of the Pratt & Whitney (PW) engine that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had asked to replace by January 31, 2020. The PW engine-powered A320-neo aircraft in the fleets of IndiGo and GoAir have been facing glitches both mid-air and on-ground since their induction in 2016.

READ | DGCA Gives More Time To IndiGo, GoAir For Modifying P&W Engines

The DGCA has repeatedly asked the country's largest airline to replace all unmodified engines in the Neo aircraft. The regulator had also asked the airline to ground one aircraft with the unmodified engine, for every addition of a plane with the modified engine. IndiGo currently has 247 planes and a share of around 47 percent of the domestic air passenger market, it is India's largest airline.

READ | Have No Interest In Air India, Only IndiGo: Qatar Airways CEO