A video of an Air India plane getting stuck underneath an overpass in Delhi goes viral. History has a particular way of repeating itself, as humans tend to believe that aircraft fuselages can fit through all flyovers and bridges despite their large size. In India, yet another Airbus A320-200 has somehow gotten stuck under the Medarametla flyover in the Bapatla district as it was en route to Hyderabad.
The aircraft in question is VT-ESB, an Airbus A320-200 that first took off in January 1993 before being delivered to Indian Airlines in March of the same year. VT-ESB was previously able to transport 146 passengers in a two-class cabin configuration, with 20 seats in business class and 126 seats in economy class.
Then, in August 2007, VT-ESB was transferred to Air India after Indian Airlines merged with the national carrier, and the aircraft was reconfigured for 168 passengers in a single-class cabin. A decade later, in February 2017, after accumulating over 62,640 flight hours within 41,888 flight cycles, VT-ESB was withdrawn from use by Air India due to the aircraft’s relatively old age of more than 25 years.
Eventually, VT-ESB was bought by the famous Hyderabad-based restaurant chain Pista House, as the company was looking to construct a new aviation-themed restaurant. The sale happened in Cochin, as VT-ESB was temporarily stored at Cochin International Airport. With VT-ESB officially in its possession, all Pista House had to do was transport the Airbus narrowbody.
Since the truck and trailer began their journey from Kerala, they have been in the news for a variety of reasons. Kerala State does not have very wide roads, and transporting such a huge item by road is quite challenging. People gathered around to click pictures and take selfies with the aircraft. Many of them were seeing an airplane this close for the first time. When the truck reached a bridge in Kollam district’s Chavara region, it got stuck under the bridge. It could only move forward after the tires on the trailer and the aircraft were deflated. The report does not mention whether the trailer was able to cross the bridge under which it got stuck in Andhra Pradesh.
