The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Around 10 days ago a Druk Air flight to Bangkok had to do an emergency landing back in Paro airport after take-off as its sensors showed there was a problem in the plane’s hydraulic system.
The Hydraulic system of the plane is important to control the plane’s landing gear, wing flaps and also brakes.
The passengers were sent to Bangkok in another Druk Air plane as checks and repairs were carried out in the plane.
The Druk Air MD Tandi Wangchuk said that it was nothing major to worry about and it was a technical problem that was fixed within half an hour.
He said that the plane had two back up Hydraulic systems in the plane that can take the place of any damaged system.
The MD stressed that all that happened was that the pilot followed the Standard Operating Procedure in such a case and even though there was no imminent danger he landed the plane back in the runway for checks.
According to the MD the safety feature of the plane alerted the pilot to a potential problem and even though there were two backup systems the pilot went ahead with the SOP.
He said that in case the plane had been over a large body of water or land with no airport nearby the plane would still be able to fly safely.
The Druk Air planes in addition to daily maintenance are sent for major checks and part replacements every six years and with much bigger checks and replacements of parts every 10 to 12 years.
Though this is the same plane that was hit on its nose and windshield by hailstorm in Guwahati in April 2016 the MD said there was no co-relation to the Hydraulic system that is different.
