Near-collision of planes averted at Mumbai airport

MUMBAI: Two aircraft at Mumbai airport came too close for comfort on Monday afternoon, raising fears of a collision. The situation, however, was controlled well in time, while the aircraft were still a safe distance away.

But complicating things was a third aircraft, which, too, was to land in a few minutes. Before the ATC could react, this plane came in the approach path even as officials were trying to avoid a collision between the first two planes. After some anxious moments, the third flight was given landing clearance as the situation on the tarmac had been sorted out by then.

The incident occurred when one aircraft was on the runway and still to vacate it, while the other flight began rolling for a take-off in same direction. The departing flight, a Bhavnagar-bound Kingfisher, was asked to abort take-off to make sure that the GoAir G8-230 flight from Delhi, which had landed, cleared the runway and vacated Bhavnagar flight’s take-off path.

The incident occurred around 1.30pm when the GoAir flight touched down at Mumbai airport and headed towards taxiway November 7 (N7) to exit.