NEW DELHI: A total of 189 passengers on board a Spicejet flight from Mumbai to Jaipur had a scare midair due to a suspected malfunctioning of a hydraulic gear in the flight.

The cockpit crew of SG 649 alerted the Jaipur International Airport they were approaching and an emergency was declared to give it priority landing. After the flight landed safely, investigations revealed that it was a bird hit incident.

Airport sources told this reporter that they received a call around 4.35 pm stating that there was a technical problem in the hydraulic system of the approaching flight and it wanted a priority landing. “A full scale emergency was declared at the airport. All other flight operations were held over to give priority landing to the aircraft. We followed all the emergency protocols with the fire engines, medical teams, security teams all put on high alert to handle any eventuality.”

The aircraft landed at 4.50 pm and it was a safe landing, the source added. The emergency at the airport was lifted after the smooth landing, he added.

Another source said, “On investigations, animal remains were found in the aircraft. We understood it was a bird hit incident.” He added, “When the flight is in air, the pilot would not know the exact problem. He felt there was an issue and reported it to us.”

Spicejet has not issued any official statement on the incident.