Go First planes grounded after engine snags

The DGCA is investigating the incidents and both planes, with Pratt and Whitney engines, will fly only when cleared by it

Two Go First flights, Mumbai-Leh and Srinagar-Delhi, faced engine snags on Tuesday and the two A320neo planes were grounded by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, officials said.

The aviation regulator is investigating the incidents and both planes, with Pratt and Whitney engines, will fly only when cleared by it, the officials said.

Both aircraft reported faults in engine number 2. The Mumbai-Leh flight was diverted to Delhi, DGCA officials said. The Srinagar-Delhi flight returned to Srinagar after engine number 2 showed a fault mid-air.

Go First did not respond to PTI's request for statement on this matter.

There have been multiple technical malfunction incidents in planes flown by Indian carriers in the last one month. Over the last three days, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has held multiple meetings with airlines and officials from his ministry and DGCA officials to ensure safety oversight.

Read | Jyotiraditya Scindia tells airlines to ramp up safety oversight

The DGCA on Monday said it conducted spot checks and found that an insufficient number of engineering personnel were certifying planes of various carriers before take-off.

Before each departure, an aircraft is checked and certified by an aircraft maintenance engineer (AME).

The DGCA has now issued guidelines for airlines on the deployment of qualified AME personnel and directed them to comply by July 28.

The spot checks also found that AME teams of airlines are improperly identifying the "cause of a reported defect", the DGCA order noted.

On July 17, IndiGo's Sharjah-Hyderabad flight was diverted to Karachi as a precautionary measure after pilots observed a defect in one engine.

On the night of July 16, the Calicut-Dubai flight of the Air India Express was diverted to Muscat after a burning smell was observed in the cabin mid-air.

A live bird was found in the cockpit of the Air India Express Bahrain-Kochi flight on July 15.

SpiceJet is under the scanner right now. On July 6, the DGCA issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet following at least eight incidents of technical malfunction in its aircraft since June 19.

The DGCA is currently investigating all these incidents.