The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday said the crew of IndiGo flight from Delhi to Srinagar on Wednesday had sought permission to enter the Pakistan airspace to avoid turbulence due to extreme weather conditions, but the request was rejected.

“The flight 6E 2142, operated by an Airbus A321 Neo and registered as VT IMD, was cruising at 36,000 feet when it encountered a violent storm near Pathankot. The aircraft was struck by hail and faced intense turbulence, causing major disruptions to its flight systems,” stated a statement issued by the DGCA.

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As per crew statement, they requested Northern control (under IAF) for deviation towards left (International Border) due to weather on the route, however it was not approved. Later crew contacted Lahore to enter into their airspace to avoid the weather but the same was refused too, the statement added.

DGCA added that the crew initially attempted to return back but as they were close to the thunder storm cloud, they decided to penetrate the weather and subsequently encountered hailstorm and severe turbulence.

The crew chose to continue at the same heading to exit the weather by the shortest route towards Srinagar.

Explaining the situation, the aviation regulator added that while in a thunderstorm cloud, warnings of Angle of Attack fault, Alternate Law protection lost, backup Speed scale unreliable were triggered.

Due to updraft and downdraft encountered by the aircraft the Autopilot tripped and aircraft speed had wide variations.

“As a result, Maximum Operating Speed, Maximum operating Mach (VMO/MMO) warnings and repeated stall warnings were triggered and during this period the aircraft rate of descent reached 8500 fpm Crew flew the aircraft manually till they exit the hailstorm. After carrying out all check list actions (ECAM actions), the crew declared PAN PAN to Srinagar ATC and requested for RADAR vectors and made a safe landing with Auto Thrust operating normally”, it added.

There was no injury to any of the passengers on-board the flight and post flight walk around revealed damage to the Nose of the aircraft, the statement read.