Near-miss Incident: IAF chopper ‘may not have’ contacted ATC

The IAF helicopter in the Presidential entourage, which had a narrow-miss with an Air India aircraft at the Mumbai airport last month, was under visual flight rules (VFR) instead of being instrument-guided and probably had no contact with the control tower at the airport, informed sources have indicated.

As an inquiry into the February 9 incident by a joint committee of civil and military aviation officials progressed, there were indications that the helicopter had not established contact with the air traffic control (ATC) tower at the airport, which it was supposed to do in order to make a landing, the sources said.

They, however, said only completion of the probe would establish the exact reasons and circumstances and make important recommendations, including enhancing levels of coordination between civil and military aviation agencies, especially during VIP travel. Busy airports like Mumbai have controlled airspace around them and most of the air traffic is guided by instrument flight rules (IFR).

Pointing out that under no circumstances can an aircraft land at an airport or even change its position on the ground without permissions from the ATC, the sources said when a plane or helicopter had to land, it had to shift over from the approach control radar to the ATC tower, which was the appropriate authority for giving landing or take-off clearance. In Mumbai, the shift-over takes place about five km away from the airport.

Posted in: Helicopter,India