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NEW DELHI, June 10 Two passenger planes almost collided at the Indian airport of Mumbai while simultaneously taking off and landing on the same runway, NDTV reported.
In the early morning of June 8, an IndiGo A320neo aircraft taking off from Indore landed on the runway at the same time that an Air India A320neo was taking off from the same runway for Thiruvananthapuram. According to the TV channel, the minimum distance between the planes was only 509 meters.
The General Directorate of Civil Aviation began an investigation and suspended the air traffic controller involved in the incident. As the department noted, the air traffic control service can authorize such a landing only if there is confidence that the landing plane will not touch the ground until the departing plane crosses the end of the runway.
In turn, both airlines said that their pilots followed the dispatcher's instructions.
«AI657, flying from Mumbai to Trivandrum, was taking off on June 8. Air traffic control cleared the Air India aircraft to enter the runway and then cleared it for takeoff. The Air India aircraft continued to take off as per established procedures,» said an Air India spokesperson.
IndiGo Airlines also said that the commander followed instructions from the ground.
«IndiGo flight 6E 6053 from Indore was cleared to land by air traffic control at the Mumbai airport. The pilot-in-command continued the approach and landing following the instructions of the flight controller. At IndiGo, passenger safety is of utmost importance to us and we have advised about the incident in accordance with procedure,» the carrier said in a statement.
Video of the incident began circulating widely the night before and went viral.