DGCA terms technical snag during Rahul Gandhi's flight as 'common'

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday clarified that the technical snag during Congress President Rahul Gandhi's flight to Hubli is common, reports said.

The DGA issued the clarification after the Congress hinted at intentional tampering with Rahul Gandhi's special flight from New Delhi to Hubli on Thursday morning and lodged a police complaint in this regard.

"It was snag of autopilot mode and pilot shifted to manual mode and landed safely. Such autopilot incidents are not uncommon," the DGCA said in a statement.

It added that for any VIP flight, the DGCA examines all the issues in details and will do the same in this case also.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi's aide Kaushal Vidyarthee sent a complaint letter to Karnataka Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police Neelamani N. Raju and demanded to investigate the incident and ground the aircraft till the investigation is completed.

The complainant said that several "unexplained technical errors" happened during the course of the two-hour morning flight and demanded a thorough investigation.

"Serious questions related to intentional tampering with the aircraft cannot also be brushed aside and are required to be addressed and investigated," the complainant demanded.