Cleared by India, US military plane leaves

Mumbai: The chartered US military aircraft which was detained for over six hours Sunday and finally cleared to leave around 3 pm, has left today, airport sources revealed.
The aircraft, which was ordered to land by the Indian Air Force (IAF) after a discrepancy in its call sign (identification), was cleared by all the relevant Indian departments and security agencies on Sunday afternoon.
However, there arose a dispute over payment of certain charges by the aircraft to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) on Sunday afternoon, delaying its departure.
When the pilot of the Boeing 767 North American airliner was unable to make immediate arrangements for the cash through its local ground handler, the ATC refused to grant it permission for take-off, the sources said.
The pilot then offered to pay the charges - the amount is not disclosed yet - by credit card, which too the ATC declined. Since there was already more than four hours' delay in the expected time of departure, the pilot extended his permissible duty hours. As per international norms, pilots can fly for a certain number of hours only and then they must get a break, the sources explained.
Later on Sunday evening, the pilot in consultation with the US embassy in New Delhi and the US Consulate in Mumbai, decided that all the people on board - 205 US Marines and a few crew members would take a night halt in Mumbai.
19/10/09 Indo-Asian News Service/Hindustan Times

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

Categories: Airports Oct 2009, Foreign Oct 2009, Safety Oct 2009