In a major breach of VIP security protocol, an Indian Air Force chopper from president Pratibha Patil’s fleet came dangerously close to an Air India aircraft at Mumbai airport.
In a major breach of VIP security protocol, an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper from president Pratibha Patil’s fleet came dangerously close to an Air India aircraft at Mumbai airport. A disaster was narrowly averted when the pilot of the Air India plane, heading for the capital with 155 passengers, applied the emergency brakes.
Hours after Monday morning’s near-miss, the IAF and the civil air traffic control (ATC) made contradictory claims about the incident. It is still not clear how close the presidential fleet came to a tragedy.
An IAF source said a head-on collision between the passenger aircraft and the helicopters was an extremely remote possibility.
The fleet of three Mi-17 helicopters, including the one carrying the president with Maharashtra governor SC Jamir and some other dignitaries, had taken off from INS Shikra at Colaba. After landing at Mumbai airport, the president and others were to leave for Gondia in Vidarbha.
Blamegame between IAF, ATC
The group flew on to Gondia in Bhandara district by a special IAF plane to attend a function in civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s home town.
“The AI Airbus 320 was scheduled for takeoff at 9:17am. Seconds after the ATC cleared it for takeoff at 9:16am, an ATC official saw a chopper approaching the runway and alerted the AI pilot to apply the emergency brakes,” an ATC official said.
The IAF source said helicopters do not land on the main runway and so no collision was possible with the plane but admitted that “in aviation, decisions are made in a fraction of a second and no eventuality can be ruled out”.
IAF officers were “surprised” by the presence of a civil passenger aircraft when the airspace should have been sanitised for VIP movement. “Had it been a rogue aircraft instead of an Air India plane, the situation could have been disastrous,” said a senior IAF officer. He squarely blamed the ATC for the situation.
An IAF spokesman also said the pilots flying the presidential fleet had followed ATC instructions “meticulously” and it was the civil controllers’ job to “sanitise” the airspace.
But the ATC insisted the situation arose because one of the IAF pilots was not in continuous communication with the control tower at the airport. An ATC source in Delhi said, “Two choppers were in touch with the control tower while the third, which goofed up, was not. The pilot should not have been landing at all.”
When the chopper landed unannounced, the other choppers were 3 miles away, according to the ATC source. But the IAF insisted the three aircraft were flying in formation and “it is a routine for them”.
The IAF has ordered an inquiry into the incident, especially into the conduct of its helicopters. The directorate-general of civil aviation (DGCA) has rushed a team to Mumbai to investigate the incident.
Director-general Nasim Zaidi said the president’s fleet had all the clearances required. Asked about the possibility of the chopper pilot landing without permission, he said: “I cannot comment off-hand about the incident before the investigation gets over. The communication records will clear the picture.”
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