'Proud of our pilots, have faith in them': SpiceJet after plane carrying 185 passengers makes emergency landing in Patna

New Delhi: A day after the Patna-Delhi SpiceJet plane with around 185 passengers on board made an emergency landing in Patna after its wing caught fire, SpiceJet Chief of Flight Operations also known as the Head of Pilots appealed to all passengers to 'be proud of its pilots and have faith in them' as they are 'well-trained'.

On Sunday, Gurucharan Arora, who is leading the SpiceJet pilots, exclusively told ANI, "I appeal to all the passengers to have faith in all the SpiceJet pilots. They all are well-trained. The way SpiceJet pilots handled the situation in Patna, it was well-managed and is a matter of pride for us."

"SpiceJet has capable and trained pilots to handle any eventuality peacefully and for that, all passengers should proud of them," Captain Arora told ANI.

Delhi-bound flight with around 185 passengers on board a SpiceJet Boeing 737 were on board and returned safely to Patna after making an emergency landing on Sunday afternoon following reports of an engine fire. As per the Airline, the fire took place as a bird was hit following which fire was reported in the engine.

SpiceJet praised its pilot Monica Khanna and its first officer Balpreet Singh Bhatia for carrying out a safe landing with a single-engine at the Patna airport after the incident.

"Captain Monica Khanna and first officer Balpreet Singh Bhatia conducted themselves well during the incident. They were calm throughout and handled the aircraft well. When the plane landed, only a single-engine was working.

Engineers inspected the aircraft after the incident. It was confirmed that the fan blade and engine had been damaged by a bird hit. DGCA will investigate further. They are experienced officers and we are proud of them," said Captain Arora.

Both the pilots have joined the investigation which is being conducted by the DGCA and internally by SpiceJet.

Meanwhile, they are not deployed for flight operations for a few days as per the company's Standard Operating Procedures.

The SpiceJet aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing at the Bihta Airforce Station in Patna after the flight's left wing caught fire.

"Flames were seen on the left wing of the aircraft. It landed immediately. Two blades were bent. People of Phulwari Sharif saw the flames and alerted the airport authorities," said the Patna District Magistrate, Chandrashekhar Singh.

He added that the reason for the fire was a suspected technical glitch and that the engineering team was conducting further investigation.

In a separate such incident of emergency landing yesterday, another SpiceJet aircraft, a Bombardier Q400 Dash 8, developed a cabin pressurisation issue after departure from Delhi.

As the aircraft climbed out of Delhi, the pilots noted that the cabin pressure did not build up in line with the altitude gain. Following this, the crew decided to return and the aircraft landed safely in Delhi. (ANI)