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Remaining flyers were fuming at being given the short shrift. They ended up waiting for over two hours to leave Delhi
 
A Delhi-Mumbai Air India flight with 172 passengers on board, among them union power minister Piyush Goyal, reported massive engine vibrations as it gathered speed for take-off on Thursday night, forcing the pilot to slam the emergency brakes at about 185 kmph and return to the aerobridge.
 
While Goyal, who was seated in business class of AI-602, was allowed to disembark immediately, the rest of the passengers had to remain in the aircraft for over two hours, after which they were transferred to another Mumbai-bound flight.
 
It took off at 11.15 pm, two-and-a-half hours after AI-602 was scheduled to leave Delhi.
 
"As the aircraft, an Airbus A321, was rolling for take-off, the pilots reported the engine vibration reading to be 9.5, way above the 3.5 to 4 unit measurement considered to be safe. The pilot had no choice but to abort take-off," an AI official said. "Had the aircraft attained V1 speed of about 140 knots (about 259 kmph, beyond which take-off cannot be safely aborted) then it would have had declare an emergency." Attempting to terminate take-off beyond V1 speed can produce catastrophic results, including runway overrun.
 
AI officials said that problem with the aircraft was serious in nature and that it had to be grounded. "Our first attempt was to try and rectify the fault. Since the aircraft is just five years old we hoped an early solution would be found. But as safety is priority we decided to ground the aircraft and provide passengers with a replacement," an airline official said.
 
A senior HR executive of a leading corporate house who was on board the aircraft said, "The aircraft took speed and then came to an abrupt halt on the runway. There was a screeching sound, something I have never experienced."
 
Other passengers told Mumbai Mirror they were unaware of the circumstances that led to the aborted take-off or that it had been terminated, till about 30 minutes after the incident, when the pilot made an announcement that "certain engine parameters were not reflecting correctly and that aircraft engineers were looking into it". "Since everyone was seated with their seatbelt signs on there were no injuries," the HR executive added.
 
Those passengers who saw Goyal disembark began to demand answers from the airline, presuming the aircraft had returned on the minister’s orders. Goyal denied this. "It is true that I rushed out of the aircraft. But this was after it developed a snag and when I realised that it was not about to move anytime soon. It is easy for people to assume things," he told Mumbai Mirror.
 
The minister added that he was headed to Mumbai to meet his daughter, who was on her way to the US that same night - to pursue a university education.
 
"Given my work requirements I could not spend enough time with her earlier. So I deplaned and took a 9.40 pm Jet Airways flight and managed to spend 15 minutes with her at the airport. Had I waited the meeting would not have taken place," Goyal said.
 
AI’s official response read: "Air India flight AI 602 after push back at 9 pm returned due to an engineering snag at 9.20 pm.
 The aircraft was declared grounded and there was a change of aircraft. The flight finally departed at 11.15 pm. At Air India, customer safety and convenience is of prime importance. We have ensured that all passengers were taken care."