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Major disaster averted for thousands of flyers despite miscommunication between Indian Navy, Mumbai ATC

Neither the ATC nor the Navy however are forthcoming about how many commercial flights flew during this period, and whether there were any near-misses.

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The airspace over the Arabian sea might have been the scene of a great disaster on Saturday. According to the Mumbai Mirror, the Indian Navy conducted defence exercises with surface-to-surface missiles on Saturday even as the airspace remained open for civilian flights.

The Mumbai Mirror reports that the Navy had requested closing of airspace for three hours between 12:30 and 3:30 pm on Saturday. However it did not convey to to aviation authorities whether this meant IST or GMT. The Air Traffic Control (ATC) Mumbai assumed it to be GMT. Consequently, airspace remained open for three hours after the exercises had begun.

While the Navy had sought a NOTAM - notice to airmen - from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm, ATC kept the airspace open during this period and shut it from 6 pm to 9 pm, by which time the exercises were over.  

Neither the ATC nor the Navy however are forthcoming about how many commercial flights flew during this period, and whether there were any near-misses. Flights on this route usually travel to the Middle East or Europe. The consequences of a missile hit could have been catastrophic in this regard.

The mistake came to light at 6 pm when Sandeep Joshi, the Watch Safety Officer on duty at Air Traffic Control in Mumbai made a routine check with the naval officials, says Mirror. "Joshi wanted to check with the naval officers if everything was as per schedule. He was shocked to learn that the exercises had taken place with the airspace open for commercial aircraft," said a source to the newspaper.

In July last year, Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukrainian airspace by a missile. This led to considerable tensions between the West and Russia, with the former accusing the latter of deliberate sabotage. A former commercial pilot told Mirror that a similar tragedy could have occurred on Saturday.

Commander Rahul Sinha, public relations officer (defence) said: "Procedure-wise, there will never be any danger to any civilian aircraft. There is a lot of surveillance in the area. In fact, the entire area is kept out of bounds for all ships for 24 hours." 

Commander Sinha said there was no mistake on the navy's part in seeking the NOTAM. "The AAI is the competent authority for promulgation of NOTAMs. While planning and conducting naval firing exercises at sea which require issue and promulgation of NOTAMs, the details are conveyed by the Navy to AAI. Over the last week, a few such notices were issued. It is confirmed that correct NOTAMs were issued and all naval firings were undertaken in accordance with these promulgated NOTAMs."

Other senior naval officers said that a check is always conducted during such defence exercises to make sure that no civilian aircraft is in the missile's path before it is fired. Thus, they blamed the goof up on 'individual error', not failures at the level of the Navy and the ATC.

Mumbai Air Traffic Control general manager Jayant Dasgupta told the Mirror that 'talks' would be held soon to ensure that there is no repeat of what happened on Saturday.

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