The audio of the conversation between the pilot of Air India Dreamliner, that returned to Hong Kong after flying for about 90 minutes, and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) has surfaced on the internet. The plane was en route to Delhi from Hong Kong and returned to its point of origin on Monday after the pilots detected a suspected technical glitch mid-air and chose not to continue the journey. The flight, AI 315, took off from Hong Kong International Airport around 9:30 am IST but circled back within 90 minutes.
According to audio that has surfaced, the pilots informed ATC that they did not wish to proceed further and requested clearance to return. “We don’t want to continue further,” the pilot can be heard saying. The pilot requested to stay closer to Hong Kong citing technical reasons before deciding to return.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, the same model as the one that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 on board and several others on the ground.
Flightradar24 data confirmed that the plane stayed in the vicinity of Hong Kong airspace before making its way back. Air India later issued a statement saying, “Alternative arrangements have been planned to fly the passengers to their destination Delhi at the earliest. We are providing all necessary on-ground assistance to minimise the inconvenience caused by this unforeseen disruption.”
This incident is the second in recent days involving the Boeing 787-8 model. A British Airways Dreamliner headed for Chennai had to return to London due to technical issues on Sunday. Additionally, a Lufthansa flight to Hyderabad turned back to Frankfurt after receiving a bomb threat and being denied landing clearance.
The recent string of flight-related incidents has raised passenger concerns, especially involving Dreamliners.