In yet another incident displaying lack of coordination at the Mumbai airport, a major collision between a Jet Airways flight and an Indigo aircraft was averted on Wednesday night. The Jet Airways pilot aborted landing on seeing the Indigo flight on the runway. The Director General of Civil Aviation, however, claimed that it was not a “near-miss” but a “runway incursion”.
The incident occurred at 9.04 pm on Wednesday when the Jet Airways flight 9W 616 flying from Kolkata to Mumbai was preparing to land after being given clearance from the Mumbai Air Traffic Control. However, during the descent, the pilot found an Indigo aircraft on the runway. The pilot of the Jet aircraft was then informed by the ATC to abort the landing. The pilot then performed a “roundabout”, meaning the aborting of a landing and circling in the air. In this case, the pilot was informed to keep circling until the Indigo aircraft was removed from the runway.
The blame game in this incident has already begun, with the Mumbai ATC claiming that the Indigo aircraft that was supposed to move on to the taxiway entered the runway as the taxiway lights were not functioning properly. The Mumbai International Airport Private Ltd (MIAL) that manages the Mumbai airport and other facilities like runway and taxiway lights, however, passed the buck back to the Mumbai ATC and the Indigo pilot.
MIAL spokesperson Manish Kalhatgi said, “The taxiway lights were not functioning properly due to a circuit problem. The ATC, who are the ones who communicate with the pilots, had been informed about it. We had allocated “follow me” jeep escorts, which are vehicles that drive in front of the plane to show the way. In fact, before the Indigo aircraft, two aircrafts entered the taxiway following this procedure.”
Mr Kalhatgi added that this procedure was not followed in case of the Indigo aircraft. “It is the ATC’s job to tell the aircraft about the ‘follow me’ procedure. We cannot comment on whether the ATC told the Indigo pilot or if the latter did not follow the procedure at all, despite being informed,” he said.