Chennai: The DGCA has finally found the source of the mysterious unidentified object that was reported near the President’s aircraft that had just taken off from Hyderabad on Friday.
The Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra told this newspaper that 300 hydrogen-filled balloons had been released from a central school belonging to the Atomic Energy Educational Society on that day, just before the President’s flight was to take off.
“The school authorities have informed us that they had released hydrogen-filled balloons from 10.05 am onwards on December 28. They had mentioned that the balloons were released in six bunches of 50 each to mark the opening ceremony of a function held in their school,” he added.
“The pilot must have seen the balloons and mistook it for a para-glider. He had reported seeing the object about 300 feet from his aircraft when he was taking off,” Mishra further noted.
03/01/13 S. Sujatha/Deccan Chronicle
