Photos: Overbookings, inflight smoking, bird hits narrate Indian airliners' troubles

An Emirates aircraft that was landing at Mumbai airport flew into a flock of flamingos on Monday night, killing 39 birds in the worst ever human-wildlife conflict to occur in Mumbai.

A few dead birds dangled from electric wires and some others lay on the roads, while some broke through concrete roofs.

Live flight tracker Flightradar24’s data shows that the Emirates aircraft was at 280kmph over Laxmibaug in Ghatkopar East, where the mid-air collision with the flamingos occurred.

Emirates pilots pointed out that the accident occurred when the aircraft was just over 1 minute from touchdown. It's not possible to change the aircraft trajectory so close to the runway.

An IndiGo flight, destined for Varanasi, was preparing for departure from Mumbai airport on Tuesday morning (May 21) and one of the vigilant flight attendants noticed a male passenger standing near the rear section of the plane, despite the fact that the aircraft was on the verge of entering the runway for take-off. The crew promptly informed the pilots about the extra passenger who was not seated.

An Air India Express flight (IX-1132) from Pune to Kochi, with a layover in Bengaluru, experienced a frightening incident when one of its engines caught fire approximately 10 minutes after departing for Kochi on Saturday evening (May 18).

Air India Express plane (IX-1132) returned to Bengaluru and performed an emergency landing, followed by an evacuation of all passengers. The 179 passengers on board were forced to wait at the Bengaluru airport for nearly 11 hours until a replacement aircraft was provided for their journey to Kochi.

A passenger on arrival at the Mumbai International Airport from Muscat was arrested on Wednesday (May 8) after the flight crew (UK-234) reported that he was caught smoking in the lavatory on board. The incident was discovered when the pilot of the aircraft received an alarm in the cockpit from the smoke detector.