The Delhi Air Traffic Control told of change in plan just before takeoff by the IAF choppers.
When an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper landed in front of a plane that was about to take off from Mumbai airport on February 9 allegedly due to an Air Traffic Control (ATC) mistake, it was not the first time that the IAF had flouted airspace norms.
On December 21, 2008, three IAF Mi8 choppers of the Comm (commander) VIP squadron, with VIPs on board, flew in formation despite instructions by the Delhi ATC not to do so.
The squadron had filed a formation flight plan with the Delhi ATC to fly from Safdarjung to Hastinapur at 10.25 am. However, at the last moment, the squadron commander changed the departure point from Safdarjung to Palam.
“It was before taking off that they informed the ATC about the change in departure point,” said an official from Delhi airport.
It was a special case of visual flight rule (VFR), where visibility was 1,100 metres. Under normal VFR, visibility is 5,000 metres, and should be 1,500 metres for Special VFR.
The ATC denied the convoy permission to fly in a formation (choppers in this squad do, at the same height). “It was a case of Special VFR; we advised them to fly at different heights,” says the official. “Under special VFR formation, flights are not permitted as they won’t be able to maintain a safe distance from each other due to bad visibility.”
At 11.06 am, Pratap 1 (the only one given ATC clearance) took off from Palam. “However, even Pratap 2 and Pratap 3 took off, without clearance from the ATC. If they operate in an arbitrary manner without paying any heed to airspace norms, how can they be serviced by the ATC properly?” he questioned.
IAF chief spokeaman Mahesh Upasani, was unavailable for comment.
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