New Delhi: The private Airbus Corporate Jet (ACJ) Mukesh Ambani gifted to wife Nita on her birthday seven years ago created a major scare at Mumbai airport on Monday night. The aircraft repeatedly emitted "May Day" signal to Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) tower. The pilots of the "Delhi-Lahore-Muscat" flight were screaming: "Karachi, Muscat we are going to ditch". Their engine was on fire and the plane was going to crash!
There was obvious panic in the ATC tower after the first "international air distress" signal came just after 8.30pm, with controllers frantically contacting their Karachi, Muscat and Delhi counterparts to find out what exactly was happening.
Karachi and Muscat told Mumbai that they were neither in contact with any such flight number, nor had any aircraft reported an engine fire or loss of controls leading to May Day calls. After drawing a blank there, the ATC used the signal's "direction finder" and asked the ground staff of Mumbai airport to check the aircraft parked in the direction of private jet hangars as the signal was coming from ground.
"The ground staff found that the signal was coming fromambani's ACJ, a super luxury Airbus A-319, safely parked in a hangar and not going anywhere. Two pilots were in the cockpit," said an official.
Seething with anger at the unprecedented scare that lasted for almost two hours, the ATC conducted a probe into the pilots' behaviour and what they found has left them even angrier. "The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) was to conduct an evacuation exercise of theambani ACJ on Tuesday to see if the crew can safely lead its occupants out in the required time in case of an emergency. Reliance Commercial Developers Pvt Ltd (RCDL), which operates this plane, was practising for the upcoming safety drill. The pilots have told us that they switched on the emergency May Day switch inadvertently and broadcast their practise message to us, which they are not supposed to do during drills," said an official.
13/11/14 Times of India
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There was obvious panic in the ATC tower after the first "international air distress" signal came just after 8.30pm, with controllers frantically contacting their Karachi, Muscat and Delhi counterparts to find out what exactly was happening.
Karachi and Muscat told Mumbai that they were neither in contact with any such flight number, nor had any aircraft reported an engine fire or loss of controls leading to May Day calls. After drawing a blank there, the ATC used the signal's "direction finder" and asked the ground staff of Mumbai airport to check the aircraft parked in the direction of private jet hangars as the signal was coming from ground.
"The ground staff found that the signal was coming fromambani's ACJ, a super luxury Airbus A-319, safely parked in a hangar and not going anywhere. Two pilots were in the cockpit," said an official.
Seething with anger at the unprecedented scare that lasted for almost two hours, the ATC conducted a probe into the pilots' behaviour and what they found has left them even angrier. "The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) was to conduct an evacuation exercise of theambani ACJ on Tuesday to see if the crew can safely lead its occupants out in the required time in case of an emergency. Reliance Commercial Developers Pvt Ltd (RCDL), which operates this plane, was practising for the upcoming safety drill. The pilots have told us that they switched on the emergency May Day switch inadvertently and broadcast their practise message to us, which they are not supposed to do during drills," said an official.
13/11/14 Times of India
