Tragedy averted at Delhi airport involving 2 Vistara planes; air traffic controller de-rostered

New Delhi, August 23

A mishap was averted at the airport in the national capital on Wednesday morning involving two Vistara planes as the air traffic controller inadvertently gave clearance for crossing and take-off of two different aircraft on the same runway at the same time before cancelling the take-off, according to officials.

Aviation regulator DGCA will probe the incident and the air traffic controller concerned has been de-rostered, one of the officials told PTI.

A plane that had landed at the Delhi airport from Ahmedabad and another plane that was to take off to Bagdogra were involved.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Vistara aircraft VT1926 operating the flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi was involved in the runway incursion.

The aircraft landed on runway 29L and was instructed by the air traffic controller to cross runway 29R. At the same time, the controller also permitted take-off of another Vistara plane VTI725 operating the flight from runway 29R, the official said.

“Momentarily, the tower controller forgot this crossing and issued take-off clearance to another Vistara flight VTI725 (Delhi-Bagdogra) from runway 29R.

“On realisation of the error based on input from VTI926, the tower controller instructed VTI725 to cancel the take-off,” the official said.

Vistara did not comment on the incident.