Two planes narrowly avoided a collision on a runway at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM).
The incident occurred on June 8, 2024, when an IndiGo flight landed on the runway while an Air India flight was taking off.
A video clip of the incident, which has been shared across social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), shows the Air India plane, which was flying from Mumbai Airport to Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV) on flight AI657, taking off just as the IndiGo aircraft, which flew in in from Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport (IDR), flight 6E5053, touched down.
Both planes were A320neos.
According to flight tracking site Flightradar24, the two planes were 509 meters away from each other laterally at their closest point, and were 511 meters apart when the Air India aircraft started to lift off. The IndiGo jet touched down three seconds after the lift off.
An IndiGo spokesperson told the Times of India that the IndiGo flight from Indore was given a landing clearance by the air traffic control tower.
“The pilot in command continued the approach and landing and followed (air traffic control) instructions,” the spokesperson was quoted to have said.
Meanwhile, Air India said its plane was “cleared by air traffic control to enter the runway and subsequently cleared for take-off”.
The Deccan Herald said the air traffic controller involved in the incident was “derostered” by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation and an investigation has been launched.
4 comments
More than 1000(thousand)movements are taking place in a single runway of mumbay international airport in one day.It is happening with in seconds .It is truly against the basic principles ATC safety regulations .But if ATC wants to accommodate more acft some adjustments have to be done without diluting the safety.The ATC tower aerodrome controller who is virtually observing the both acft visually and acft are in VMC conditions the the basic separation minima can be reduced that is which happening at mumbay like airpors.Moreover all taking off,landing and approaching acft are under radar control which need only five miles sepation as per safety regulations.If an ATC follow strictly the ATC ICAO safety regulations and ATC separation standards it will become WORK TO RULE situtions.So an ATC controller feels his actions are safe he has all the right to implement it.He is responsible for all his actions not the outside viewers.DGCA has to investigate how mumbay and similar airports are accommodating more than thousands acft landings and take offs in a single runway in one day
THANKS TO Mumbay ATC units controllers.
Smart job done by the ATC. He is an expert.
This is an affront to the dignity of Indian Aviation Safety measures
Ideally there should be TWO RUNWAYS–One for take-offs and one for landing. But for the Government,(even illegal) hutments are more important than aircraft convenience and safety,so the same runway gets used for both, take-off and landing.