The directorate general of civil aviation has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
A major disaster was averted at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on Wednesday night after an Indigo aircraft, which was supposed to be on the taxiway, entered the runway area.
Around the same time, a Jet Airways flight was scheduled to land on that runway, but the air traffic control (ATC) intercepted the plane and asked it to do a go-around to prevent a near-collision.
An Indigo Mumbai-Bangalore flight 6E 415 with over 150 passengers on board was set for take-off from Mumbai at 9pm on Wednesday. The ATC asked the flight to taxi via runway 14 of 14-32; it was to take a left to taxiway N1, which is before the intersection point of runways 14-32 and 09-27. From there it was supposed to proceed to the end of main runway 27 of 09-27.
“But instead of taking a left turn to taxiway N1, the aircraft, an Airbus A320, proceeded straight and reached the intersection point,” said an ATC official from Mumbai. According to sources, the pilot went straight because there were no lights on taxiway N1. He moved straight to find another taxiway.
However, at around the same time, a Jet Airways Kolkata-Mumbai flight 9W 61, just a mile away from the airport, was about to land on the runway. “The ATC official spotted the Indigo plane on the runway and instructed the Jet flight to do a go-around till the other flight vacated the runway,” said the official. The Jet plane with 108 passengers and six crew on board finally landed at 9.19pm. The Indigo flight took off later in the night.
The directorate general of civil aviation has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
A spokesperson for the Mumbai International Airport Limited agreed there was a problem with the lights on the taxiway N1. “Lights on a stretch of the taxiway were working intermittently due to a circuit problem. We had informed the ATC about it and also made a follow-me vehicle available to the aircraft using that taxiway,” he said.
“Before the Indigo plane, two flights that took the help of the follow-me vehicle and taxied through the same route. They did not face any problem. An aircraft that left after the Indigo plane also took the vehicle’s help,” he added.
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