- By Ashita Singh
- Wed, 19 Jan 2022 07:20 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: India's civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday started a probe on the issue of averting the collision of IndiGo's two domestic flights mid-air.
The incident of a serious safety breach was reported to India's aviation regulator DGCA and a team under DGCA Director-General Arun Kumar was constituted for a thorough investigation.
"Post the alleged safety breach, an investigation was launched by the DGCA," said a senior official of the regulator said.
"We are investigating and shall take the strictest action against those found delinquent," the official was quoted saying.
However, Indigo Airlines have declined to comment on the incident and they have not issued any statement yet.
What exactly happened between two IndiGo flights?
On Jan 7, 2022, the two IndiGo planes -- 6E455 (Bengaluru to Kolkata) and 6E246 (Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar) -- were involved in a 'breach of separation' at Bengaluru airport, according to the officials of DGCA.
On the very same day, the shift in charge decided to use a single runway for operations - the North runway for both arrival and departure.
In the meanwhile, the air traffic controller handling operations of the South runway "gave departure to 6E 455 and at the same time North tower controller gave departure to 6E 246 without coordination."
Breach of separation happens when two aircraft cross the minimum mandatory vertical or horizontal distance in the airspace.
Both these aircraft departed from the Bengaluru airport within a span of approximately 5 minutes on the morning of January 9, the officials mentioned.
As per a report of investigators, "the incident occurred due to a lack of communication between radar controllers and ATC officers at the time of the incident because two aircraft can't operate on the same air path."
How did two IndiGo flights avert the mid-air collision?
According to the report by DGCA, the collision was averted after the Approach Radar controller gave diverging heading signal to a flight and avoided collision.
According to NDTV, the radar controller is identified as a 42-year-old Lokendra Singh. He helped save more than 400 lives on the day of incident.
