'US-chartered aircraft carrying military cargo not following procedures'

New Delhi: Eyebrows are being raised at the repeated instances of US-chartered aircraft carrying military cargo being detected flying over Indian territory or airspace without obtaining requisite permissions.
"They are not following proper well-documented procedures... It seems somebody, probably the chartering companies, are cutting corners in the misplaced hope that it will not matter,'' said a senior IAF officer on Monday.
This came even as the US-chartered Boeing 767 aircraft carrying 189 marines from UAE, which was grounded at the Mumbai airport on Sunday for entering Indian airspace without getting mandatory military clearance, finally took off for its earlier destination of Bangkok on Monday after an all-clear signal.
"US is airlifting lot of equipment and troops in and out of Afghanistan through chartered planes. Some come into our airspace without getting the mandatory clearance, which is the norm across the world for aircraft carrying military cargo or troops,'' he added.
The Boeing 767 had been ordered to land in Mumbai on Sunday morning after it was found that it only had civil aviation clearance but not the AOR (air operation routing) clearance required from IAF despite having military equipment and soldiers on board.
"The aircraft, belonging to North American Airlines, should have had a military call-sign instead of the civilian one. It was asked to land at Mumbai after this discrepancy was noticed,'' said another official.
20/10/09 Times of India

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