File photo: An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner
A large panel fell off an Air India Dreamliner, which was on its way from Delhi to Bangalore on Saturday. Sources in the civil aviation regulator or DGCA have said that the panel was fitted on the side of the fuselage and not under the belly as some earlier reports suggested.
The sources also said that the incident happened while landing at the Bangalore airport and not mid-air. They say though there was no danger to passenger safety, the panel should not have come off.
The plane with 150 passengers landed safely in Bangalore. Apart from the DGCA, Dreamliner's maker Boeing will also conduct an enquiry to check what caused the panel to come off, sources said.
When the panel came undone, a large hole was left in the cargo section, said sources according to the Press Trust of India.
The hole was reportedly noticed by ground staff which inspected the aircraft at the Bangalore airport ahead of its return journey.
A spare panel was flown to Bangalore and fitted on the Boeing 787, which was later declared fit to fly. But the return flight was delayed by over nine hours, according to the Press Trust of India.
"It was not an emergency. There was no safety problem," according to an unnamed source in Air India quoted by the news agency.
Besides long-haul international operations, Air India operates Dreamliners on domestic routes between Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.