Major collision between a SpiceJet and Kingfisher aircraft was averted by a mere two minutes; the latter's pilot ignored ATC message and entered the runway on which the former was scheduled to land
Major collision between a SpiceJet and Kingfisher aircraft was averted by a mere two minutes; the latter's pilot ignored ATC message and entered the runway on which the former was scheduled to land
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A major mishap was averted at the Chennai International airport on Tuesday evening when an aircraft of a private carrier didn't pay heed to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) message and rolled into theu00a0 runway on which another aircraft was scheduled to land.
Collision Course:The Kingfisher plane was ferrying around 60
passengers, while 100 passengers were on board the SpiceJet flight.
Representation pic
Officials from the ATC division of Chennai said that at 8.20 pm, the Kingfisher Chennai-Madurai flight was on the taxiway, and was moving towards the main runway for departure. "The Kingfisher pilot was given clear instructions to stay on the taxiway, because a SpiceJet Hyderabad-Chennai flight was scheduled to land. In spite of the instruction, the Kingfisher pilot entered the runway, and the SpiceJet flight, which was approaching to land, was asked to defer its touch-down to avoid a collision," said a source from the ATC Chennai.
He added, "It's difficult to say ifu00a0 the pilot deliberately ignored the order, or didn't hear it properly. We have informed the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which willu00a0 investigate the incident." DS Raghvan, president of ATC Guild, confirmed the incident, but did not elaborate. "DGCA is on the job," he said.
The Kingfisher flight was ferrying around 60 passengers, while about 100 passengers were on board the SpiceJet flight. Despite repeated attempts, DGCA Chief E K Bharatbhusahan remained unavailable for comment.
Recently, a similar incident was reported in the Mumbai aerospace. A Qatar Airways' QR-284 Abu Dhabi-Kozhikode aircraftu00a0-- with about 180 passengers on boardu00a0-- escaped catastrophe, when an Air Arabia G8-452 Kozhikode-Sharjah flight allegedly breached the aviation guidelines and came close to the aircraft.
Close shave
uFebruary 2009: An army helicopter, which was part ofu00a0 President Pratibha Patil's three-helicopter convoy, was given permission to land on the runway where an Air India aircraft had commenced its take off. The pilot of the aircraft, after spotting the chopper, refused to take off and applied emergency brakes.
uMay 2010: A major mishap was averted when a Jet Airways 9W 616 Kolkata-Mumbai flight was asked to abort landing after an Indigo aircraft was spotted on the runway. The Jet flight was at a distance of 700 feet from the runway when the ATC alerted its pilot to abort landing and take a go around.
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