Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Abandoned plane gets a new resting place

Nagpur: An abandoned aircraft posing threat to planes landing at Nagpur airport since last 22 years was finally removed on Tuesday. The private jet — a Boeing 720 — was left at the airport in 1991 and was lying there since. The plane belongs to Continental Aviation Private Limited (CAPL), run by former NRI Sam Verma, now based in Betul which is over 100km away from Nagpur. The company has now ceased operations.

The operator's licence of Mihan India Limited (MIL), was at stake had it not removed the plane to a safer distance. After repeated directions since 2009, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), issued an ultimatum to MIL in July, giving it two months' time. Non-removal of the aircraft would have been treated as non-compliance of safety norms, leading to cancellation of licence.

In 1993, the plane was shifted outside the apron and placed just 90 metres away from the runway. Norms call for keeping any object at least 150 meters away from the runway's sides. There chances that at times, an aircraft may deviate during landing. If there is any object on the sides, it poses a grave threat. Therefore, every time a plane landed at Nagpur, the Boeing 720 was standing within the risk zone. Even though the plane was 90 meters away, there was no strict monitoring till 2007, when DGCA introduced the system of periodical renewal of operators' licences. The licence has to be renewed after an inspection in every two years, said a source.
30/09/15 Shishir Arya/Times of India
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline