Three Recent Air Disasters Avoided: Iran, British Air, India

TEHRAN, Iran - Security personnel defused a homemade bomb found on an aircraft during a domestic flight in Iran late on Saturday, Iranian media said, two days after a mosque bombing killed 25 people in the country's southeast.

The device was defused after the Tehran-bound Kish Air aircraft with 131 passengers on board made an emergency landing in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The incident occurred less than two weeks before the Islamic Republic holds a presidential election in which the conservative incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, faces a challenge from reformers.

"Minutes after the ... Kish Air flight took off with 131 passengers from Ahvaz to Tehran, security personnel found a homemade bomb" on board, Fars reported.

The official IRNA news agency, in a report which did not mention the explosive device, said there had been a plot against the flight but that those behind it had been arrested.

"The plot ... was unsuccessful due to the security forces' awareness and those behind it were arrested," IRNA said. 

The British Airways plane shook violently and did not rise more than 30ft above the ground as it set off from Johannesburg to London.

The pilot has been praised for his quick actions in keeping the Boeing 747 in the air, saving the lives of the 256 passengers on board.

Miraculous escape: The British Airways Boeing 747, similar to this one, is thought to have gone into landing mode so that the flaps that make it rise did not work

Travelling at 200mph, he dumped enough fuel for the aircraft to eventually gain height, before returning it to the airport.

It is believed that a technical fault caused the plane to go into landing mode so that the flaps that normally make it rise did not work.

An investigation is under way as to how the jet came so close to crashing.

A BA spokesman said: 'As a precaution BA56 Johannesburg to Heathrow flight on Monday May 11 returned to the airport shortly after take-off due to a suspected technical problem.

'The Boeing 747 aircraft with 256 passengers on board landed safely and the customers disembarked as normal into the airport.

A possible collision between two aircraft ferrying 220 passengers was averted at the Mumbai airport as the pilots aborted take off at the last minute after allegedly being given the green signal to become airborne from "diagonal" runways simultaneously in Mumbai on Sunday.

"At 7.45 AM, two departing aircraft, one of Air India and another of Jet Airways, aborted take off from the cross runway," Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said.

There were 120 passengers including four children on board Jet Airway's Mumbai-Kolkata flight while Air India's Mumbai-New Delhi-Sanghai flight had 104 passengers.

Air India spokesperson said that the ATC had instructed pilots of both the flights to take off.

"The two aircraft were at the diagonal runways. They were given clear to take off by the ATC that subsequently asked to abort the take off," Air India spokesperson said.

ATC officials were not available for comment.

"Our pilot was given permission to take off from runway (14/32 cross runway). The Air India pilot of flight 348 misunderstood signal and started taking off from the main runway (09/27)," a Jet Airways spokesperson told PTI in Mumbai.

The ATC asked Air India Pilot to abort the take off, the spokesperson said, adding "our pilot also applied breaks as a precautionary measure".