Both AAI and IndiGo airline is under investigation by the DGCA after they failed to report a mid-air scare that would have cost hundreds of lives on January 7. Two IndiGo flights headed to Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar almost collided at 3,000 feet in the air due to a minor slippage by the ground staff.
An alert approach radar controller who was closely monitoring the airspace above Bengaluru Airport averted a major accident after IndiGo flights 6E-455 and 6E 246 flying to Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar took off from parallel runways in the same direction.
The radar controller, a 42-year-old Lokendra Singh gave a diverging heading to the aircraft that avoided the mid-air collision. The airport’s north and south runways are not used for simultaneous departures as planes taking off from the same distance can intersect with each other. The parallel runway operation has been red-flagged ahead of this.
Reports state that on the morning the north runway was being used for departures while the south runway was assigned for arrivals. The latter was then decided to be shut by the shift in charge. However, the information was not conveyed to the air traffic controller of the south tower.
Subsequently, the two planes were given permission for take-off at the same time from the converging runways. This meant that the two planes were now headed in the same direction for a convergence. Luckily, a radar controller saw this and immediate intercepted it to alert the aircraft.
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The incident raises fresh concerns on lapses by the air traffic controllers as well as failure by the AAI and IndiGo to report it to the DGCA. The incident came to light during routine surveillance.
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The Kolkata-bound flight carried 176 passengers and six crew members, while the Bhubaneswar flight had 238 passengers and six crew members – a total of 426 passengers.
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