An investigation is under way in India after reports that an Air India jet had a “near miss” with a helicopter from India’s presidential fleet. Reuters writes “the helicopter, one of three on duty for Indian President Pratibha Patil during a visit to Mumbai, was on the same runway as the passenger flight, forcing the aircraft’s pilot to abort take-off, the spokesman said. President Patil was not in the helicopter at the time.” The BBC says “the Air India jet, with 150 passengers, later took off with new tyres.” As for near-miss, the BBC reports that officials at Mumbai International Airport called it “purely an issue concerning the Mumbai Air Traffic Control, which had allowed both the landing and the take off.”
By: EGTC - 10th February 2009 at 20:21
Sorry for my mistake. Being in the UK i’m used to seeing Air India B747’s so instantly thought B747.. My mistake 🙂
By: KabirT - 10th February 2009 at 19:45
2 ATC were suspended over this incident.
meanwhile…
Another mid-air collision averted near West Bengal
A potential mid-air disaster was averted on Tuesday when an Air India [Images] Airbus, on a flight from Dibrugarh to Kolkata with 43 passengers on board, and an Indian Air Force plane came dangerously close to each other over Jorhat airspace, a day after a civilian plane narrowly missed colliding with the President’s helicopter in Mumbai [Images].
http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/feb/10another-mid-air-collision-averted-near-west-bengal.htm
By: KabirT - 10th February 2009 at 16:33
747? It was an A321.
There was a communication gap between the IAF ATC and the Bombay ATC. The chopper was cleared to land and the A321 was not supposed to take off for another 30 seconds.
By: EGTC - 10th February 2009 at 15:21
So what actually happened? Did the helicopter start to taxi accross the runway as the B747 was taking off?
By: KabirT - 10th February 2009 at 09:21
take off was rejected 3 seconds before V1, so yea quite close.
By: steve rowell - 10th February 2009 at 06:43
The thing is it all ended well!!!
By: KabirT - 10th February 2009 at 06:06
yea this has caused a big hooplah here, quite a narrow escape. Stopped 300m from where the chopper was.
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February 10, 2009 at 2:14 am