Report on near-miss of copter in Prez entourage due

New Delhi: Almost three months after the near-miss incident involving a helicopter of the Presidential entourage at Mumbai airport, the report of the joint investigation team is yet to be finalised.
"It is in the final stages," Director General Civil Aviation S N A Zaidi, who heads the three-member team, said when asked about the progress on the issue. The near-miss had occured on February nine when an Air India flight IC-866 had to abruptly abort take-off from the Mumbai airport as the pilot spotted an IAF helicopter, part of the Presidential entourage, landing about 300 km away on the same runway.
Besides Zaidi, the three-member team has a senior officer of the Airports Authority of India which supervises the civilian air traffic control and one from the helicopter division of the Indian Air Force that operates VIP flights. The delay in finalising the report has been apparently caused by differences over sharing of information relating to the episode.
The committee has been asked to determine the circumstances in which the "serious incident" took place, identify the factors which led to it and ascertain whether the Standard Operating Procedures were followed by the concerned personnel and agencies, including the IAF and the air traffic control.
The panel would come out with recommendations and remedial measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents. These would include enhancing coordination between civil and military aviation agencies, especially during VIP travel.
Earlier, the DGCA and the IAF had started separate investigations, but the decision to hold a joint probe was taken apparently in view of differences relating to information sharing between the agencies concerned.
06/05/09 ZeeNews

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Categories: Airports May 2009, Indian Aviation- In General May 2009, Safety May 2009