2 IndiGo Flights Almost Collide Mid-air In Bengaluru, 400 Lives Were At Risk: What Went Wrong

A mid-air collision between two IndiGo flights that took off from Bengaluru airport was averted after a radar controller saw the impending danger and took corrective actions, a preliminary report by the aviation regular DGCA has said.

Two domestic IndiGo flights ¡ª one from Bengaluru to Kolkata 6E 455 and one from Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar 6E 246, took off at the same time, from Bengaluru¡¯s Kempegowda International Airport on January 7, and according to reports, the safety breach came to light only recently.

"Breach of separation"

The "breach of separation" was not reported by the Airports Authority of India, or AAI, sources said, quoting a preliminary report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGCA. "Breach of separation" happens when two aircraft cross the minimum mandatory vertical or horizontal distance in an airspace.

IndiGo

The two flights had hundreds of passengers on board and it is believed that the two planes came very close to a mid-air collision shortly after taking off, at an altitude of over 3,000 feet in Bengaluru.

What exactly happened

Bengaluru airport operates two runways - north and south. On January 7 morning, flights were taking off from the north runway and landing on the south runway, the DGCA's preliminary report said.

A shift in-charge of runway operations decided to use a single runway, the north one, for both landings and take-offs, the report said. The south runway was then closed, but it was not told to the south tower controller.

The south tower controller allowed the flight going to Bengaluru to take off. At the same time, the north tower controller also gave permission to the flight going to Bhubaneshwar to depart.

Reuters

The clearances by the south and north tower controllers were given without coordination, the DGCA's preliminary report said. The report indicated a communication gap between air traffic controllers after one of the runways was closed.

What DGCA said

Both jets should not have been allowed to take off simultaneously in the same direction, DGCA sources have said. "As both aircraft after departure were on converging heading i.e. moving towards each other, an approach radar controller gave diverging heading and avoided a mid-air collision," the report said.

The matter was not recorded in any logbook and not reported by the AAI. "We are investigating and will take strict action against those responsible," a DGCA official said. The AAI runs air traffic control.

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The Bengaluru-Kolkata flight carried 176 passengers and six crew, while the Bengaluru-Bhubaneswar flight carried 238 passengers and six crew - a total of 426 passengers.

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