Call it a freak accident! A crane carrying Air India’s defunct aircraft crashed on the boundary wall of a private property abutting Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad on Sunday morning. The crane and the aircraft were damaged but luckily, there were no casualties in the incident. The incident happened at 6.30 am when Air India officials were transporting the defunct Airbus A320 aircraft from the Begumpet Airport hangar to their training academy (Central Training Establishment) nearby.
Air India authorities wanted to use the craft to train flight attendants, engineers, pilots and aviation security personnel. As it was first such operation in the country, to execute it, Air India officials sought permission from the Begumpet Airport authorities and made a gap in the rear boundary wall to allow the heavy truck carrying the 200 tonne crane holding 70 tonne aircraft in the air to quickly move from the airport to the training establishment. The aircraft (Airbus A-320 model) belonging to Air India was being transported by road from Begumpet airport to Central Training Establishment at Ferozguda in Balanagar here when the crane bars got bent down and the aircraft suddenly fell on a nearby compound wall, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North Zone) N Prakash Reddy told PTI. “It was an unused aircraft and was being shifted to the training establishment at a distance of about 4 kms from the airport for training purpose. Crane services had been engaged and while the aircraft was being lifted today, the crane bars got bent and it collapsed at around 7.15 AM,” Bowenpally Police Station Inspector K Kiran said. “No one was injured in the incident in which the aircraft got partially damaged,” he said. No case has been registered so far in connection with the incident.