An Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft made an emergency landing at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati on Saturday due to some technical problem.
Disclosing that IAF’s IL-76 “Gajraj” aircraft was on its way to Guwahati from Bengaluru, security sources said that aircraft developed some snag mid-air and was forced for an emergency landing.
Though, airports authorities and the IAF were tightlipped about the exact problem which forced the emergency landing, security sources said that aircraft had to hover above the airport for more than two hours to burn the fuel before making an emergency landing around noon.
IAF sources claimed that all those on board were safe. Besides two pilots and two crew-members, the aircraft was carrying IAF personnel. However, authorities refused to divulge the details and number of passengers travelling in the aircraft for security reasons. The technical problem developed in two of the four engines of the aircraft as the pilots made an emergency landing with the help of two remaining engines, sources said.
The Airport Authority of India had taken all necessary steps for the safe landing and to deal with any kind of emergency situation, security sources said.
The IL-76s were inducted in IAF from Russia in mid-1980s. Since then they have been performing crucial strategic air-lift work for the IAF.
Security sources said that IAF has two IL-76 “Gajraj” squadrons (around 12 aircraft in all), one based in Nagpur and the other in Chandigarh.
The IL-76, also known as Ilyushin-76, had hogged the headlines in 2009 following Russia’s move to ground its entire fleet. Russia had taken the decision after one of the heavy-lift military aircraft crashed in Siberia. It had sparked widespread concerns in India also but subsequently the issue subsided.