Another SriLankan flight has a close call in Mattala
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
The SriLankan Airlines flight UL 114 aircraft traveling from Male to Sri Lanka on the 25th had met with an accident while flying from Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport to Katunayake.
A few minutes after taking off from Mattala, a flock of birds had knocked on the front windscreen of the aircraft. The impact had damaged the windscreen.
As soon as the aircraft landed in Katunayake, senior SriLankan Airlines officials and pilots had inspected the damaged aircraft.
A senior pilot who spoke to us said that apart from a crack on the windscreen, there were several holes on the windscreen similar to bullet holes. The pilot explained that when the windscreen cracks at 3,000 feet mid air, the pilots could have been sucked into a low pressure area from a high pressure area. In such a scenario, the pressure would break the windscreen and the pilots would have been thrown out of the aircraft.
About 40 passengers had traveled to Sri Lanka in the flight and about four relatives of the President had boarded the flight from Mattala to Katunayake. No passenger had disembarked at Mattala.
However, had the aircraft traveled out of the country, we would have had to publish a tragic report on the fate of the passengers and the crew of the aircraft.
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Tuesday, 26 March 2013 A senior pilot who spoke to us said that apart from a crack on the windscreen, there were several holes on the windscreen similar to bullet holes. The pilot explained that when the windscreen cracks at 3,000 feet mid air, the pilots could have been sucked into a low pressure area from a high pressure area. In such a scenario, the pressure would break the windscreen and the pilots would have been thrown out of the aircraft.