Near-miss: Major says ATC must look inwards

Bangalore: IAF is sticking to its guns about its pilots not being responsible for the terrifying near-miss of President Pratibha Patil's VVIP
helicopter fleet on Monday, holding that Air Traffic Control (ATC) authorities need to put their own house in order rather than trying to blame others for their lapses.
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major says the pilots of the three VVIP helicopters had obeyed all instructions on the communication frequency by "Mumbai Approach'' and had been "specifically cleared'' to land on Runway-27.
It was when the helicopters were landing that the Air India flight IC-866, on the "Mumbai tower frequency'', was forced to abort its take-off virtually at the last second to avoid a possible collision with the first of the three helicopters.
The helicopters, with call signs "Pratap 1, 2 and 3'', landed in the 2-1-3 formation, with the President travelling in the middle chopper, and without being aware of the civil airliner aborting its take-off.
To a question on Pratap-II landing first, even though Pratap-I was in touch with the ground authorities, he said, "A flight plan is filed as a formation...whichever helicopter lands first is absolutely immaterial.''
"The landing sequence depends on the situation and security consideration of that flight,'' added the IAF chief, who has already said the pilots flying the helicopters were highly trained and qualified.
IAF says it is for the ATC, which is responsible for traffic separation, to explain why the helicopter cavalcade and the civil aircraft were on different frequencies since no aircraft can switch frequencies without being told to do so by the ATC. Moreover, the usual norm is to stop air traffic for 10 minutes when a VVIP flight is operating.
13/02/09 Rajat Pandit/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: NACIL Feb 2009, Safety Feb 2009