| Author | Message | ||
     Ustad Junior Artist Username: Ustad Post Number: 762 Registered: 07-2008 Posted From: 76.166.111.11 Rating: N/A |
2 bad 2 worst.... Illanti incidents chaala jarugutunnai India lo.... Civil Aivation should improve to avoid such mistakes. May 31: A potentially devastating collision was averted at Mumbai airport around 8 am on Sunday morning, when two aircraft — one belonging to Air India and the other to Jet Airways — began their take-off runs at the same time on runways that crossed paths. The directorate-general of civil aviation has ordered an inquiry to establish how this came to happen. The issue has triggered a controversy with Jet Airways as well as Air Traffic Control sources claiming that the Air India pilot was rolling for takeoff even though he had not received permission from the ATC in Mumbai. Air India, however, refuted this, saying that the pilots of both aircraft had been given permission for takeoff at the same time by the ATC. At 7.57 am on Sunday, Air India’s Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight AI-348, with 104 passengers on board, was waiting to take off on main runway number 927, while Jet Airways’ Mumbai-Kolkata flight 9W-615, with 120 passengers, waited at cross runway number 1432. The Air India plane then started moving on the runway. Mumbai airport has two runways crossing each other. While the main runway is used around the clock, the cross runway is used for six hours. The runways are alternatively used for takeoff and landing. “We had given the signal for takeoff to the Jet Airways flight, but the pilot of the Air India plane mistook it for a clearance to his plane. At this time, our controller saw the Jet Airways plane also moving on the runway and so he advised the Jet Airways pilot to abort the takeoff,” said Mumbai ATC spokesperson M.G. Jhungare. Jet Airways officials said it was because of its alert pilot that the collision was averted. “Our pilot rejected the takeoff as a precautionary measure,” said a Jet spokesperson. Air India officials said, meanwhile, that their pilot had started moving only after getting a signal from the ATC. |
