Ahmedabad: India’s airport authorities are banking on a wall to ensure a buffalo-free flight for passengers. For S.D. Sharma, however, it could well turn out to be one beast too many.
And, no, they may not be as inoffensive as the unmindful bovine that tripped the airport director.
Sharma, director of Surat airport in Gujarat, has been transferred to Lilabari airport in Assam following last Thursday’s runway incident when a SpiceJet plane hit a buffalo just before take-off.
The 140 passengers on the Delhi-bound flight had a miraculous escape. The buffalo, of course, didn’t survive.
A probe team headed by civil aviation authority (DGCA)’s western region chief A.K. Sharma found that parts of the boundary wall around the airport had collapsed and the makeshift fence had also broken at several places, leaving channels open for cattle to sneak in.
Also, the runway didn’t have enough lights for the pilot to see the buffalo.
The inevitable quiz followed. Last night, Sharma got his marching orders — to Lilabari airport. “Everybody knows the reasons for my transfer,” Sharma said, when asked whether he had got the transfer order.
12/11/14 Telegraph India
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And, no, they may not be as inoffensive as the unmindful bovine that tripped the airport director.
Sharma, director of Surat airport in Gujarat, has been transferred to Lilabari airport in Assam following last Thursday’s runway incident when a SpiceJet plane hit a buffalo just before take-off.
The 140 passengers on the Delhi-bound flight had a miraculous escape. The buffalo, of course, didn’t survive.
A probe team headed by civil aviation authority (DGCA)’s western region chief A.K. Sharma found that parts of the boundary wall around the airport had collapsed and the makeshift fence had also broken at several places, leaving channels open for cattle to sneak in.
Also, the runway didn’t have enough lights for the pilot to see the buffalo.
The inevitable quiz followed. Last night, Sharma got his marching orders — to Lilabari airport. “Everybody knows the reasons for my transfer,” Sharma said, when asked whether he had got the transfer order.
12/11/14 Telegraph India
