Airports to invest more in security

New Delhi: Alarmed by the attacks, both airlines and airport managements will now be forced to invest more in security systems. The Centre on Friday declared a high alert at all international airports in the country, with a special emphasis on the western region. Airlines are also asking passengers to report at time to airports as the extra security measures could mean longer clearing times.
"There was a lot of talk of installing state of the art security systems at Indian airports about two years back following a spate of terror attacks across the world. Now that move will get the deserved priority," said an airline official. The industry knows it has to convince people of a safe flight to make them travel again in these unsafe times, he said.
Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya has told his employees that "safety and security are our most important parameters. Each one of you must take extreme care to ensure that both are strictly enforced." Despite their poor financial health, airlines will now have to invest more in ensuring that passengers have a safe flight.
The government has ordered thorough check of all vehicles going to airports as well as 100% checking of hand bags. "Airlines are now resorting to ladder-point security in which passengers are frisked at the aircraft ladder or place they board buses to reach the aircraft. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and CISF are reviewing overall security measures. All this may require acquisition of ultra modern equipment and hiring of specialised people to run them," said sources.
29/11/08 Times of India

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Airports put on high alert, extra vigil mounted

New Delhi: All major airports across the country, especially those in the western region, have been put on high alert and extra vigil mounted following the terror strikes in Mumbai, official sources said today.
Extra surveillance has been mounted in most of the airports, with additional CISF and police personnel being deployed to keep an eye around the terminal as well as the perimeter, they said.
While sniffer dogs were being deployed in some airports to assist the checking of baggage, watchers in plainclothes were also being put on the job, they said, adding that sky-marshals were boarding planes flying on specifically identified routes on a regular basis.
The airlines, both domestic and international, have been asked to inform passengers to arrive at the airports at least an hour before the original check-in time for thorough inspection of their baggage and also the vehicles coming to drop them, they said.
The air travellers have also been asked by the airlines to carry valid identification documents.
While domestic carriers, barring Kingfisher Airlines, have maintained their normal schedules in and out of Mumbai, some foreign carriers had cancelled their flights to the western megapolis yesterday.
28/11/08 PTI/Press Trust of India

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CISF intensifies airport patrolling

Bangalore: Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) has intensified its security measures. "BIA security and CISF are in a high state of alertness.
All visitors are being screened thoroughly. CISF patrolling has been intensified and the quick-reaction team of the CISF is also in a high state of readiness," said an official BIAL spokesperson.
Digvijay Singh, CISF head at BIA, told TOI, "Since Wednesday night, we have gone on high alert." A dozen more CISF personnel have been added to beef up security across the airport. Singh said two teams of CISF personnel armed with AK-47 rifles have been deployed to patrol the entry area. While one team is mobile, the other team have been positioned at strategic locations. A large number of similarly armed CISF personnel are also manning the airport in civilian clothes.
Some flights between Bangalore and Mumbai were cancelled on Thursday, primarily on account of large cancellations of passenger bookings. According to Jet Airways, which operates 7 daily flights connecting the IT capital to the financial capital of the country, some flights had to be merged as about 55% of bookings had been cancelled.
Bengaluru International Airport said that since Wednesday evening, one Kingfisher flight (BOM-BLR-BOM) scheduled to arrive at 8.20 am on Thursday was cancelled.
28/11/08 Times of India

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Another security drill at airport as passengers cancel Mumbai tickets

New Delhi : Following the ongoing Terror strike in Mumbai, the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi has been put on high alert. The Delhi Police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have increased deployment. “We held meetings with security agencies at the airport. Quick-reaction teams have been activated,” said a senior CISF official.
Many passengers did not take flights to Mumbai, disrupting flight schedules, as airlines had to cancel or reschedule flights. Kingfisher Airlines clubbed its flights — Delhi-Mumbai IT 306 and IT 308 on the same route.
Passengers who landed in Delhi were scared, while those who had gone to Mumbai decided to cancel engagements and returned by the morning flight.
“I was having dinner at a Mumbai hotel when I heard the news; I had four meetings scheduled, but cancelled them and took the first flight to Delhi this morning,” said Naresh Jain, a Delhi businessman, who reached Mumbai at 7.45 pm on Wednesday.
Sholay’s ‘Samba’ Mac Mohan, who landed in Delhi this afternoon for a stage show, said Mumbai would stay resilient as ever. “Mumbai is used to dealing with such situations, and I’m sure we will emerge stronger,” he said.
Sucheta Kaushik (28), who arrived with her four-month-old-son in a SpiceJet flight, said, “My family was very tense. The roads in Mumbai are deserted. I am happy to be back with my family; I feel safe.”
28/11/08 Geeta Gupta/Indian Express

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Airports on high alert after Mumbai terror strike

New Delhi: Security at airports across the country has been beefed up following Wednesday night’s terror attack in Mumbai that claimed at least 101 lives, a government official said Thursday.A senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said security has been tightened at airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai besides 13 other airports across the country. These airports have been categorised as “hyper sensitive” by security agencies.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the Mumbai airport have erected additional barricades, the official said.
At Delhi airport, the CISF and the Delhi Police are monitoring vehicles approaching the airport. “This has delayed flights and also affected the air traffic movement,” said an airport official here.
A former official of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) told IANS on condition of anonymity that if terror attacks in Mumbai were any indication, the threat to airports would rise further.“Airports are always the first choice for terrorist attacks,” he said.
He said Indian airports, even hyper-sensitive airports, do not have a foolproof security.
27/11/08 IANS/Thaindian.com, Thailand

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Security beefed up at Pune airport

Pune: Security was tightened at Pune's Lohegaon airport on Thursday in the wake of Wednesday night's terror attacks in Mumbai that left at least 101 people dead and several others injured.
But it was business as usual as all flights were operating on schedule with no delays or cancellations reported till Thursday noon.
Two flights (Kingfisher and Jet Airways) operate on the Pune-Mumbai route in the morning session. "So far, we are operating without any change. Even if there were to be any delays later, it will be more out of technical reasons rather than security issues," Pune airport director G Chandramouli told TOI.
The airport is part of the Indian Air Force's (IAF) Lohegaon air base and like most airports across the country, its security is being handled by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
All movements around the airport premises were being closely monitored and an additional number of police personnel could be seen posted at key points along the approach route to the airport from the Weikfield square.
Additional security barricades were installed on the route so as to slow down the traffic movement near the airport entrance. Similarly, access to the main terminal building was restricted to only the ticket-holding air passengers.
Issuance of entry tickets to visitors was stopped "till further notice". Usually, the airport's visitors gallery attracts a fair number of people throughout the day. On Thursday, no casual visitor was being allowed.
A notice put up at the terminal manager's desk read, "Due to security reasons, sale of entry tickets to visitors has been stopped till further notice."
28/11/08 Times of India

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Taxi was meant to blow up Mumbai airport

The flyover outside the domestic airport in Mumbai and a taxi driver’s unfamiliarity with the new slip route to the terminal perhaps went a long way in averting a major disaster that could have taken the toll into hundreds on Wednesday night itself.
Shortly before the terrorists moved into their targets in South Mumbai, a black and yellow taxi, with three passengers and enough ammunition to bring down a dome, sped in the direction of the airport. Instead of taking a slip road that would have taken the passengers straight to the airport, the driver took the flyover which bypassed the airport, only to get stuck at a red light.
At rush hour, the lights stayed red for long, at which the passengers berated the driver and asked him to cut the traffic lights. The driver moved on, but the wait turned out to be a minute or two too long. The car exploded. All that was found was a severed head and parts of three human legs. Had the terrorists' plans of coinciding a blast at the airport with the attacks on the Taj and Oberoi hotels succeeded, the death toll of 26/11 would have been much bigger than it already is.
28/11/08 Prabhu Chawla/India Today

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Additional manpower for Coimbatore airport security

Coimbatore: Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in charge of Coimbatore Airport security is getting additional manpower. The Government has also sanctioned a resurvey of the manpower needs of the security agency for the third shift, especially for the operations at night.
The induction of CISF to be in charge of airport security 2002 was part of a nationwide decision and it was done in phases. The sanctioned strength in 2002 was 130 when the airport had to handle traffic of about eight to 10 aircraft a day. But, today, the airport has an average of 22 aircraft movements a day and there has been a commensurate growth in passenger traffic. Commencement of international services resulted in operations at night overstretching the CISF personnel. The security level and needs were being revisited after six years.
According to the CISF sources, manpower increase for security had to be a co-ordinated exercise between CISF, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). Once the agencies come to a consensus, then the process of sanction had to go through Aviation, Home and Finance Ministries. The AAI had to provide the logistics for the security agency besides meeting the bill for hosting them.
Now there are proper guidelines and norms for fixing the scale of security on the basis of number of aircraft, hours of operation, passenger movement and number of buildings and the gates that need to be manned thus removing any mismatch between the availability and the need, the sources said.
25/11/08 V.S. Palaniappan/The Hindu

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Boarding pass swap raises safety concerns

Mumbai: Passport and visa forgery have become common crimes these days, but cases of boarding pass exchange have seldom been highlighted at airports.
In one such case recently, a Chennai-bound passenger swapped his boarding pass and passport with a Swiss national, who was apparently taking a flight to Paris.
While the Chennai-bound passenger, a Sri Lankan national, was intercepted at the airport on grounds of suspicious behaviour on November 1, the Swiss passenger managed to leave the city and had been absconding since then.
"The Swiss national cleared immigration saying he was headed for Paris, while the Sri Lankan pretended to be a domestic passenger,'' said senior police inspector Dilip Patil. "They met in the mezzanine-floor security hold after clearing all security checks and exchanged the passes and passports. In fact, the French passport the Swiss national had given to the Chennai-bound passenger also turned out to be bogus,'' he added.
The police said such ploys were generally used by Sri Lankan nationals__to go abroad illegally__who ask for refugee status if caught by immigration officials in foreign countries.
"If a Sri Lankan national gets caught, he/she surrenders and then asks for asylum and refugee status, citing the strife in their country as a reason for the illegal transit. They usually look to get into the US or European countries where human rights laws are more favourable,'' he added.
Unlike many international airports abroad, Mumbai does not have a biometric security system
, which checks a passenger on the basis of fingerprints or retinal scan. Though the installation of a biometric system has been on the cards for long, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is yet to recommend the technology that will be used in India. The agency conducted a meeting with representatives of all Indian airports last month to zero in on the requirements.
25/11/08 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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AI's 'humanitarian gesture' raises security concerns

Mumbai: A day after Air India (AI) called back its Mumbai-Nagpur flight to accommodate a passenger on humanitarian grounds on Friday, questions were raised about how dilligent airline officials are while conducting checks on passengers boarding an aircraft.
The AI flight IC 629 took off from Mumbai without a checked-in passenger and had to return to take him back. According to AI claims, the flight was called back on humanitarian grounds as it was urgent for the passenger to reach Nagpur.
However, the fact that the passenger, who finally did take the Nagpur flight, had earlier boarded an Ahemdabad-bound flight by mistake, clearly indicated that neither the boarding passes were checked properly by airline employees nor was their head count accurate, a source said. Moreover, though the AI claimed to have turned the flight back to accommodate only one passenger, the load count their pilot gave to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) indicated an addition of seven more passengers.
All these things pointed at a skewed calculation on the part of AI employees, said security officials. These officials as well as traffic controllers said the incident showed that boarding passes were not properly checked while allowing passengers on board.
On Friday, Jitendra Bhargava, executive director, AI had told TOI that they did not conduct a head count of passengers on all flights. Security officials, said it wouldn't have been hard to spot a missing passenger if the count was conducted properly.
The passenger load figure provided by the Nagpur flight pilot raises further doubts. Usually, before a flight is given clearance for take-off, the pilot has to specify the number of passengers onboard. According to ATC sources in Mumbai, the flight took off with 91 passengers initially. The second take-off it made was with 97 passengers.
23/11/08 Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

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Survivor of airplane crash faces surgery

Edmonton: The sole survivor of a fatal plane crash on the B.C. coast last weekend faces surgery on both of his badly burned hands, his brother told reporters here.
Tom Wilson will likely be in hospital for another three weeks, his brother, Michael, said Friday.
Two other Edmonton-area men were among seven who died in the crash.
According to their employer, St. Albert's Ajay Cariappa and Edmonton's Kyle Adams died when the twin-engine Grumman Goose smashed into the side of a cliff.
Cariappa was a 34-year-old project engineer with Peter Kiewit Sons Co., while Adams, 29, worked for the company as a maintenance engineer.
Sherry vander Heide of Edmonton was the first person Cariappa called when he was about to leave town for work, and the first person he called just before he returned.
Cariappa called her last Sunday from Vancouver to let her know he was about to board a plane bound for Powell River, and to confirm his presence at vander Heide's Grey Cup party this weekend.
"He wasn't really a big football fan, but he wanted to be there because of me," said vander Heide, her voice breaking.
She said Cariappa, 34, who emigrated from India, had lived in the Edmonton area since moving here five years ago from the East Coast.
He lived by himself in a house he owned in St. Albert, where vander Heide said much of his leisure time was spent immersed in books.
23/11/08 Canwest News Service/The Province, Canada

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Airport revamp puts fliers' lives at risk

Kolkata: For nearly a fortnight, the crew of international carriers are operating with guesstimates on regulated take-off weight (RTOW), an arithmetic that is crucial for safe takeoff. In the pre-flight schedule, pilots add cargo and passenger weights to the aircraft kerb weight to determine how much fuel it can take on board for a safe takeoff. All aircraft have specified ROTW that the airline needs to adhere to.
Since November 7, though, pilots of international flights have been operating on mere conjecture as the 10-tonne weigh bridge at the cargo terminal terminal is inaccessible to loaders. The road to the weigh bridge has been dug up by Airports Authority of India (AAI) to modernize the import storage space.
Tractors hauling containers and palettes can no longer reach the machine and get their weights checked. Airline officials said this exposed them to risk of overloading and jeopardising the lives of passengers and crew.
While AAI claims the modernisation project is very important and an alternative weighing system has been put in place, those in charge of loading have not been using it, claiming it is not feasible.
Unlike domestic operations, most international airlines carry cargo in regular passenger flights. Though Singapore Airlines has a separate Jumbo to be used as a freighter, the cargo hold in its passenger flights are full almost every day. Airline officials admit they make a visual estimate of the cargo, which is not reliable.
"Unless weighed, we cannot determine whether the cargo loaded exceeds the RTOW. Proper placement of the cargo in the aircraft belly is also hampered. There is a possibility of an aircraft being disbalanced with heavy cargo at either the front or rear end.
"A takeoff with load beyond RTOW is always risky. At present, the aircraft are being loaded on the basis of estimates and we are concerned," said Cargo Facilitation Committee chairman Louis Alphonso.
AAI officials maintained that airlines should use an Elevated Transfer Vehicle (ETV) that has been made available.
23/11/08 Arpit Basu/Times of India

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NRI kid’s hand gets trapped in Delhi airport escalator

New Delhi: A three-year-old NRI girl was seriously injured after her hand got trapped in a moving escalator at the Indira Gandhi International airport early on Thursday.
The US-based girl, Shehsha, was visiting India with her mother on vacation. The incident brought back shocking memories of the painful death of seven-year-old Jyotsana Jethani , who too was caught in a moving escalator at IGI airport in 1999.
Airport sources said Shehsha was with her mother, Sreestha, who was at the immigration counter of the international terminal’s busy arrival wing. Seeing the nearby escalator, the girl climbed a few stairs. “But the escalator suddenly began moving downwards.
The girl lost balance and her hand got stuck,” said an airport official on condition of anonymity. Shehsha shrieked and cried for help, alerting her mother, who came running towards the moving escalator.
Without wasting any time, Sreestha switched off the emergency button bringing the escalator to stand still. But the girl’s hand was stuck.
The duty manager was informed and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) swung into action. Some airport officials rushed to the spot and immediately dismantled a portion of the escalator stair.
The girl’s hand was profusely bleeding and she was taken to the Indian Spinal Injury Centre for a medical-check before being transferred to another hospital.
22/11/08 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

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SL on Cochin incident

Sri Lankan airlines in a statement over the emergency landing of one if its aircraft in India on Thursday said the incident was a result of the malfunction in one part in the nose landing gear, which has now been replaced.
A statement from the airline issued yesterday said UL 165 experienced a minor incident while preparing to land in Cochin and it occurred after pilots heard a slight noise while lowering the landing gear on the Airbus A320.
“Pilots declared an emergency in order to alert airport authorities of a possible problem. This is the standard procedure in such a situation. The aircraft then landed uneventfully at Cochin. As a further precaution, it was towed off the runway, which caused a minor delay to other aircraft. The aircraft was later flown back to Colombo without passengers. The problem had been caused by a malfunction in one part in the nose landing gear, which has now been replaced,” the airline said.
22/11/08 Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka

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Srilankan A320 at Kochi on Nov 20th 2008, nose gear steering failed

The crew of a Srilankan Airlines Airbus A320-200, flight UL165 from Colombo (Sri Lanka) to Kochi (India) with 95 passengers and 7 crew, declared emergency due to a malfunction of the nose gear steering while on final approach to Kochi. The crew initiated a go-around and entered a holding in order to rectify the problem, but had to perform the landing with the fault. The airplane stopped safely on the runway and had to be towed off the runway after inspection by emergency services.
The runway was closed for about 45 minutes due to the emergency. Srilankan Airlines sent a replacement aircraft to perform the return flight UL166.
20/11/08 Simon Hradecky/The Aviation Herald, Austria

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New suspects to be named in Air India bombing

A controversial human rights group in Punjab plans to release a report this weekend identifying new suspects it claims have confessed to the 1985 Air India bombing.
Sarabjit Singh Verka, of the Punjab Human Rights Organization, says group investigators travelled the world, interviewing more than 100 people in several countries with knowledge of the bombing.
Verka said they found more than one suspect "from the movement" who have admitted they were involved in the June 23, 1985, bombing plot centred in B.C. that killed 329 people aboard Flight 182 over the North Atlantic and two baggage handlers at Narita Airport in Japan.
"The movement" is a reference to the struggle for Khalistan, a separate Sikh nation some want carved from India's Punjab.
Verka said his group has been trying unsuccessfully to share its findings with the RCMP investigators from the Air India Task Force who are currently in Punjab interviewing potential witnesses.
The Canadian police, he said, are refusing to meet with the organization except with Indian officials present - something Verka says is unacceptable.
Verka wouldn't say more about the report or those purported to be the new suspects, but said the research paper will be publicly released "for the victims' families."
"We are having a meeting this weekend and then we will release it," he said in a telephone interview from Punjab.
Verka provided copies of e-mails between himself and task force investigator, Insp. Bart Blachford, about the request for a meeting.
In his e-mail, Blachford says that a senior official of the Punjab group, Justice Ajit Singh Bains, and his son, Rajvinder, had agreed to meet the RCMP along with India's Central Bureau of Investigation.
"The RCMP received permission from the Indian Govt. to meet with the PHRO, in the presence of the CBI. Initially you and your father were in agreement to meet with the RCMP in Chandigarh under those conditions," Blachford wrote.
"In a followup call with Cpl. [Dan] Sandhar and after speaking with your father, you and your father decided that you would not meet with us under the condition that the CBI be present at the meeting. Nor would you meet with us to discuss the situation. We have advised the CBI that no meeting will take place at your request." Blachford also said the RCMP would still like a copy of the report "in order to advance our investigation into the bombing of Kanishka," which is the name Air India gave the doomed airliner.
But Verka told The Sun that the human rights organization has lost faith in the RCMP because of its close relationship with Indian authorities and will give them nothing.In a subsequent e-mail to Blachford, the group denied there had been an agreement to meet with the CBI present.
The PHRO, which has maintained close separatist ties since it began in 1985, has stirred controversy in connection with the Air India probe before.
20/11/08 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun/Canada.com, Canada

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Punjab group to release list of new suspects in Air India bombing

Vancouver: A controversial human rights group in India's Punjab region plans to release a report this weekend identifying new suspects it claims have confessed to the 1985 Air India bombing.
Sarabjit Singh Verka, of the Punjab Human Rights Organization, says group investigators travelled the world, interviewing more than 100 people in several countries with knowledge of the bombing.
Verka said they found multiple suspects "from the movement" who have admitted they were involved in the June 23, 1985, bombing plot centred in B.C. that killed 329 people aboard Flight 182 over the North Atlantic and two baggage handlers at Narita Airport in Japan. "The movement" is a reference to the struggle for Khalistan, a separate Sikh nation some want carved from Punjab.
Verka said his group has been trying unsuccessfully to share its findings with the RCMP investigators from the Air India Task Force who are now in Punjab interviewing potential witnesses.
Canadian police, he said, are refusing to meet with the organization except with Indian officials present - something Verka says is unacceptable.
Verka wouldn't say more about the report or those purported to be the new suspects, but said the research paper will be publicly released "for the victims' families."
"We are having a meeting this weekend and then we will release it," he said in a telephone interview from Punjab.
Verka provided copies of e-mails between himself and task force investigator Insp. Bart Blachford about the request for a meeting.
In his e-mail, Blachford says that a senior official of the Punjab group, Justice Ajit Singh Bains, and his son, Rajvinder, initially agreed to meet the RCMP along with India's Central Bureau of Investigation.
18/11/08 Kim Bolan/Canada.com, Canada

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Mounties might go home empty-handed

Amritsar: Five investigators of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) — who are in India in connections with the probe of June 1985 bombing of Air India’s 182 Kanishka flight, in which 329 persons were killed— might go home empty-handed.
The Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), whose investigations had unraveled various facts regarding attack by the Punjab militants, has refused to meet the investigating team, which is at present staying in Delhi.
The RCMP was in Chandigarh last week to question Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terrorists on death row for killing former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh.
The team, called the Air India Task Force (AITF), is headed by Sergeant Bart Blackford and was to question about 15 more persons. “We will not meet the investigators, as they have attached certain conditions, which include that during the meeting the CBI will sit along. We want direct dialogues with the RCMP,” said PHRO chairman Justice Ajit Singh Bains (retd). He said they have submitted their independent probe report to the Canadian government and now it was up to the RCMP to collect more evidence and witnesses.
Apart from Blackford, Mike Haney, Dan Sandhar, Joanne Baines and Bill Kalkat are part of the AITF team. The Canadian government has spent millions of dollars on investigation, but besides Inderjit Singh Reyat, who had made a confession, no conviction has taken place in the 23-year-old case.
Two other accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik, were freed by the Canadian Supreme Court for want of “credible witnesses”.
19/11/08 Dharmendra Rataul/ExpressIndia

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Ten years later, justice eludes Hayer's family

It is now ten years since outspoken Indo-Canadian newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer was murdered, and still his family continues the search for justice.
The passage of time hasn't dulled the pain for the late publisher's son Dave Hayer and his family.
That's not just because their father was murdered. It's also because after 10-years, his killers are still eluding justice.
Tara Singh Hayer was gunned down in November 1998. He was putting the final touches on the latest edition of his Indo-Canadian newspaper, a publication that didn't waiver in its criticism of extremists trying to import terror to Canada.
While that dedication to principle ended up killing Hayer, his family says it would be easier to move on if those responsible had been punished.
The RCMP have an ongoing investigation. But so far, it hasn't yielded results.
Perhaps nowhere did Tara Singh Hayer's murder have more of an impact than at B.C. Supreme Court where it may have played a crucial role in the lack of justice for one of our country's most horrible crimes.
That crime was the Air India bombing. Hayer was set to be a witness in the trial, testifying against Ajab Singh Bagri, one of the men acquitted in the case.
"It could have been very, very compelling evidence. Of course it was lost His statements were not allowed to be entered as exhibits in that case and we'll never know what could have happened if he had been alive to testify," said Kim Bolan, a Vancouver Sun reporter, who has written extensively about Air India.
But Dave Hayer has tried to move beyond that. He's now focused on two things -- the need for justice - and the need for the public to not forget what his father died for.
"We have to make sure that our future generations also realize that we can't allow this to repeat, We can also make sure that we don't allow people to allow terrorism to come here," he said.
18/11/08 CTV British Columbia, Canada

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DGCA team begins probe into Goa airport's freak mishap

Panaji: A team from the Director General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) has begun probing Sunday's freak mishap at Goa airport when two chartered flights brushed against each other. One of the aircraft was carrying 356 passengers on board.
"It's a two-member team. They are recording statements of flight technicians, engineers and other concerned personnel. The report will be dispatched to the DGCA headquarters in New Delhi," a senior official at the Airport Authority of India (AAI) told reporters here Monday afternoon.
A wing of the Airbus-330 belonging to the Iberia Spanish Airline had scratched the fuselage of a Russian Trans-Aero Boeing Sunday afternoon at the Dabolim airport. The fuselage was damaged to the extent that it was not possible for the aircraft to take off putting the lives of nearly 356 passengers on board at risk.
The mishap put the lives of 356 passengers on board the Trans-Aero flight at risk, and also threw air traffic at the airport out of gear. Several flights were forced to be rescheduled.
Hundreds of chartered flights from Germany, Russia and Britain use the paramilitary airport facility at Dabolim every year from October to March, Goa's tourist season.
18/11/08 IANS/Mangalorean.com

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