Hyderabad-bound Indigo flight hits a wild boar during takeoff at Vizag

On Sunday night, a Hyderbad-bound Indigo flight hit a wild boar during its takeoff. The flight was on its way from Vizag and had 150 passengers along with four crew members on board. The Indigo flight was due to takeoff at 10 pm when it hit a wild boar on the runway, damaging the rear wheel and killing the animal. According to a report on Times of India, the pilot saw the boar but could not abort the takeoff as it was too late.

After the incident the crew informed the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) and the carcass was cleared from the runway letting the way for the flight to touch down. The TOI report mentions that they flight could not touch down immediately, as the rear wheel was not getting retracted. Landing the plane with a full tank of fuel would also have been dangerous. Hence, the pilots flew the plane over the sea for 45 minutes to burn fuel and then landed at the Vizag airport. Once the plane landed, it was thoroughly inspected and cleaned before it finally took off again.

The flight, 6E-742, was scheduled to land at the Hyderabad airport at 11:15 pm but managed to takeoff from Vizag eventually at 1 am. It reached Hyderabad at 2:15 am.

A statement issued by the airline said, "Flight 6E-742 from Vishakhapatnam to Hyderabad hit a wild boar on the runway during take-off. The captain immediately reported the matter to ATC and decided to hold over Vizag. After runway inspection, the pilot carried out a precautionary landing at Vizag airport after 45 minutes for necessary inspection."

Vizag airport director, G Prakash Reddy, mentioned to TOI that they raised the issue with INS Dega, which controls the airport and asked them to undertake measures to clear wild animals from the airport. The director mentioned that even stray dogs enter the 10,000-ft runway. He also added that as many as six wild boars are known to be roaming at the vicinity of the airport.