New Delhi: Around 1pm on Saturday, the air traffic control at Indira Gandhi International Airport was informed by a pilot of a Jet Airways craft preparing to land that he had sighted a drone flying dangerously over the approach to runway 29. The Central Industrial Security Force and the Air Force were promptly informed and a quick-response team rushed to the runway. By the time it reached the spot, however, the drone was nowhere to be seen.
A senior police officer said that another team was immediately sent to villages and localities around the airport to find out if anyone had been operating the drone from there. Nothing concrete could be established and the police only said they would mount a stricter vigil.
"The pilot of the Jet Airways plane first saw the drone when he was 7-8 nautical miles from the airport," revealed a CISF officer. "He landed on runway 28 and saw the drone approach runway 29, around 500 metres away. Even though the drone was not a danger to the Jet craft, a major disaster could have taken place because runway 29 was operational at the time. The airborne drone could have collided with an incoming plane."
)3/04/16 Anvil Srivastava/Times of India
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A senior police officer said that another team was immediately sent to villages and localities around the airport to find out if anyone had been operating the drone from there. Nothing concrete could be established and the police only said they would mount a stricter vigil.
"The pilot of the Jet Airways plane first saw the drone when he was 7-8 nautical miles from the airport," revealed a CISF officer. "He landed on runway 28 and saw the drone approach runway 29, around 500 metres away. Even though the drone was not a danger to the Jet craft, a major disaster could have taken place because runway 29 was operational at the time. The airborne drone could have collided with an incoming plane."
)3/04/16 Anvil Srivastava/Times of India
