Kingfisher flight has a near miss with SpiceJet

Chennai, Dec 21: A major disaster was averted on Dec 20 night at the Chennai airport runway due to a timely alert by Air Traffic Controller officials.

According to media reports, Kingfisher and SpiceJet flights came very close to colliding on the runway. Reports say that a Kingfisher flight to Coimbatore entered the runway to take off without clearance at the same time when a SpiceJet aircraft was scheduled to land on the same track after receiving clearance from the ATC. When the aircrafts were noticed, ATC alert the SpiceJet flight to hold the landing and asked to keep it in the air till the runway was cleared to prevent the possible collision.

DS Raghavn, President, ATC GUILD said, "The Kingfisher departing to Coimbatore from Chennai was given Taxi clearance and was advised to hold on at the holding point, but the pilot entered the runway. The Controller saw the situation and immediately advised the arriving SpiceJet aircraft to turn around."

Meanwhile, the Director General of Civil Aviation has ordered a probe into the issue.

OneIndia News