Dense winter fog over Lucknow created a chaotic scenario for air travel, leading to a dramatic series of events where an Air India Express aircraft was forced to spend hours circling the city only to return to its origin point, not once, but on two consecutive mornings.
A Maze in the Sky: The January 4 Incident
On the morning of January 4, Air India Express flight IX217 took off from Delhi at 5:51 AM, reaching the skies above Lucknow less than an hour later at 6:42 AM. However, pilots were met with an impenetrable blanket of fog covering the runway. The crucial runway visual range (RVR) was a mere 125 metres, dangerously below the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) mandated minimum of 150 metres required for a safe landing.
Hoping for a break in the weather, the pilots entered a holding pattern. For the next 78 minutes, from 6:43 AM to 8:01 AM, the Boeing 737 MAX 8 traced 11 slow circles over the city. With visibility refusing to improve, the flight had no choice but to turn back, eventually landing in Delhi again at 8:55 AM.
A Repeat Performance Two Days Earlier
This frustrating ordeal was almost identically repeated just 48 hours prior, on January 2. Flight IX2171 departed Delhi at 5:24 AM and reached Lucknow by 6:18 AM, only to confront the same poor visibility. The aircraft then entered a prolonged holding pattern, circling 17 times over a span of 93 minutes from 6:19 AM to 7:52 AM. Awaiting a clearance that never came, the jet finally abandoned its attempt and returned to Delhi, touching down at 8:56 AM.
In total, across the two fog-ridden mornings, the same Lucknow-bound service circled the city 28 times, spending 171 minutes (2 hours and 48 minutes) in a holding pattern, without ever touching the runway at its intended destination.
Widespread Disruption Across Multiple Flights
The severe fog conditions in Lucknow caused significant delays for several other flights on January 4, highlighting the widespread impact of the winter weather.
- SalamAir flight OV705 from Muscat landed over 90 minutes late at 5:16 AM.
- Air India Express flight IX2048 from Bengaluru arrived one to three hours behind schedule.
- Air India Express flight IX1026 from Mumbai was also delayed by one to three hours.
- Another Air India Express service, IX1058 from Delhi, landed more than an hour late at 2:13 PM.
These incidents underscore the operational challenges and passenger inconvenience caused by intense winter fog in North India, with Lucknow being a particularly affected hub during this period. The events demonstrate the critical importance of visibility minima for flight safety and the difficult decisions pilots must make when weather conditions deteriorate.
