Pilot allowed to fly after near-fatal error

The pilot of an Executive Jet charter flight, whose mistake almost led to a mid-air collision in the city skies on Sunday morning, was allowed to fly back to Mumbai later in the evening. He was initially grounded by the DGCA after the plane reached New Delhi. But later, he was given special permission to fly it back to Mumbai as it had been chartered by an NRI business tycoon from Dubai. The plane returned to the city at 8.45 pm, and the pilot was finally grounded till the completion of investigations.

Aviation expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan fumed at this “exception” made by the DGCA. According to him, the defaulting pilot should not have been allowed to fly back.
“It shows that the civil aviation ministry does not understand the meaning of the word safety. A person who created a near disaster should not have been allowed to fly till the investigations were over. It is no wonder that the Federal Aviation Authority wants to downgrade our country,” he said.

Two private planes had a close shave after they took off at the same time from Mumbai. The ATC had given permission to a Pinnacle Air plane to take off, but the pilot of the Executive Jet misread the signal and took off himself. It was sheer luck that he realised his mistake in the nick of time and managed to avoid a mid-air collision.

At 11.15 pm, the Pinnacle Air charter, with six people on board, was lined up on runway 27. It was to leave for Aurangabad and its call sign was VTBPS. At the same time, the Executive Jet, carrying five passengers, taxied to the start of the same runway without the ATC’s permission, said sources.

The plane had been hired by an NRI from Dubai, and was to leave for Delhi. It was given the call sign of VPBSD. The distance between the two planes was 1500 metres approximately. The length of the runway is 3,445 metres.

At 11.16 am, the Pinnacle plane took off with the ATC’s permission. “The Executive Jet pilot Jet misunderstood the call sign VTBPS for VPBSD and took off at the same time,” said an airport official. With heavy rains reducing visibility to 800 metres, neither of the planes saw each other.

Sensing danger, an ATC official contacted the defaulting pilot on VHF (very high frequency), asking, “Confirm you are at holding point” (holding point is where an aircraft stands on the taxiway before it enters the runway for take-off).

A Jet Airways pilot, who had lined up behind the Executive Jet, replied that the plane had taken off misunderstanding the ATC instructions.