Mishap averted at Mumbai airport

Barely a week after a near-miss, a mishap was averted at the Mumbai airport on Thursday night when a Kingfisher flight was cleared for landing at a runway where a Spicejet plane was stationed after a technical fault.

The Mumbai-Chennai Spicejet flight was to about to take off at around 11 pm but developed a technical problem at the last minute after which the Air Traffic Control asked it to abort the take-off, airport sources said. But, at the same time, a Delhi-Mumbai Kingfisher Airlines aircraft was given permission for landing at the same runway. However, just in time, the ATC asked the pilot of the Kingfisher plane to go around after which the flight landed.

The Kingfisher

Airline spokesperson confirmed the incident and said that the pilot complied with the ATC's instruction. The flight, however, landed at Mumbai airport safely, hesaid. "Shortly before the Kingfisher Airline flight IT 318 was to land at Mumbai airport, the ATC requested the captain of the flight to do a go around. The captain immediately complied with the ATC instruction and was revectored a fresh approach" the spokesperson said.

The aircraft which was operating from Delhi landed at Mumbai Airport shortly thereafter, he said. On May 27, a major disaster was averted at the airport here as a Jet Airways plane was asked to abort landing at the last minute after an IndiGo aircraft entered the runway.