IAF, control tower pulled up for chopper incident

New Delhi: A high-level investigation has blamed procedural errors and a lack of coordination for the near-collision between an IAF chopper from the President's convoy and an Air India flight at the Mumbai airport in February.
The report, submitted to the civil aviation ministry this afternoon, made 20 recommendations to improve security for VVIPs when they are flying. These include creating separate procedures for copters used by VVIPs. Within days of the near-collision in February, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian Air Force and the Airports Authority of India decided to investigate the matter and find what caused the incident and whether Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) were flouted."
The report blamed the incident on the lack of coordination between the IAF and the control tower at the airport. Not only did the choppers not keep the requisite distance between themselves for the Pratap formation, they landed on the runway without getting permission from the control tower. Air traffic controllers manning the tower too were unaware of the VVIP procedures so that the confusion about the sequence of the chopper formation and their possible landing and take off time could have been avoided.
The DGCA has asked the AAI and IAF to work out details of these procedures.
25/06/09 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Jun 2009, NACIL Jun 2009, Safety Jun 2009