2 IndiGo planes came face to face at Bengaluru airport; DGCA suspends ATCO
Two IndiGo flights narrowly escaped from a severe collision after being cleared to take off simultaneously in the same direction on January 7, 2022
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the Air Traffic Control officer's license for three months, who was involved in 'a breach of separation' at Bengaluru airport.
Two IndiGo flights narrowly escaped from a severe collision after being cleared to take off simultaneously in the same direction on January 7, 2022, after which the DGCA had ordered an inquiry into the incident.
The two IndiGo flights 6E 455 (Bengaluru to Kolkata) and 6E 246 (Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar) took off simultaneously from north and south Runway and were involved in a breach of separation at Bengaluru airport.
According to the aviation regulator, "South tower controller gave departure to 6E 455 in coordination with Approach Radar controller and at the same time, North tower controller gave departure to 6E 246 without prior coordination. As both aircraft after departure were on converging heading i.e. moving towards each other".
It further reads that the approach radar controller gave diverging heading to separate these aircraft. At the closest point of conflict, the vertical and lateral separation between both aircraft was 100 feet (Standard 1000ft) and 0.9 NM (Standard 3NM).
The occurrence has been classified as a serious incident and is being investigated by Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB).
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