Four AI pilots hailed for averting mishap

MUMBAI: The four pilots who brought the Air India Boeing 777 to safety after one of its two engines burst into flames soon after taking off from Newark airport on Sunday are being commended for their airmanship by the pilot community.
Capt Gautam Verma and his crew—second commander Capt Niranjan Singh and first officers Pankaj Wadhawan and Shilpika Das—were in the cockpit on board AI flight 144, which suffered an engine failure.TOI had carried a report on the incident on Tuesday. The aircraft was heavily loaded with passengers and fuel when the pilots were forced to land it without delay as its left engine caught fire. “The pilots averted a major emergency into becoming a possible catastrophe by landing the aircraft successfully back,” said Capt G S Bakshi, a retired AI pilot.