A helicopter recently broke president Pratibha Patil’s security cordon by flying into sanitised airspace when she was disembarking from an aircraft at the IGI airport.
A helicopter recently broke president Pratibha Patil’s security cordon by flying into sanitised airspace when she was disembarking from an aircraft at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.
The incident took place in the morning of September 27 when Patil reached Delhi after a domestic tour.
The helicopter, belonging to Global Vectra, was told to hover over Tihar jail since Patil’s aircraft was about to land. The chopper had permission to land, but not to enter the Palam technical area.
“At the Palam technical area, when the President’s aircraft landed and disembarkation was going on, the chopper flew overhead, which alerted security agencies,” said a senior government official on condition of anonymity.
The aviation ministry, following a query by the prime minister’s office, instructed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security to get the details of the incident.
At the airport, the technical area is under the command of the air force, which takes over all operations when the President flies from or lands at the airport. As per protocol, during landing and take-off by an aircraft carrying the President, air traffic is closed.
A preliminary investigation has found that the pilot had been told to avoid the technical area. The DGCA has called upon airport operators, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the helicopter firm to join in the investigation.
“Security agencies have taken the incident very seriously. Their main concern is that even sanitised airspace over an airport can be breached by a low flying chopper,” the official said.
“There is absolutely no check on choppers entering the highly sanitised airspace of Delhi. Ideally, the airport should have a separate section for choppers,” said another government official privy to intelligence matters.
Sunday’s incident was the second airport security breach concerning Patil. On February 9, an Air India plane escaped crashing into her entourage of helicopters at the Mumbai airport. A DGCA report submitted in June gave recommendations generally related to air traffic procedures and coordination between various agencies, especially between the air force and the AAI.
Also at the Mumbai airport, a major disaster was averted on May 31 when two passenger aircraft proceeded for take-off simultaneously from two runways but the pilots stopped the planes in time.
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