Etihad and Jet Airways in Near Miss at Mumbai Airport Due to ATC Error

Etihad Airbus A330

ATC Trainee Clears Etihad Plane to Land on Occupied Runway Jet Airways Aircraft

An Etihad jet had to do a last minute go-around at Mumbai Airport (India) when an ATC (Air Traffic Control) trainee gave clearance to the jumbo jet while forgetting he had given taxi clearance to a Jet Airways plane on the same runway.

The incident occurred on August 9th:

‘Jet Airways aircraft VTJBR, while shifting from one bay to another, was asked to proceed through a designated taxiway. The aircraft entered runway 09/27, and upon receiving no further instructions from the ATC, the pilot rang up the control room, which in the meantime was busy clearing the landing of the Etihad airlines flight on the same runway, oblivious that the Jet aircraft had already entered the runway.

“The Jet aircraft wrongly entered the runway on which a landing had been cleared. The landing was about 2.6 nautical miles away from the runway, which is a hair’s breadth, considering that the minimum distance between a landing and take-off is six nautical miles.

It was the pilot of the Jet aircraft who realised his mistake and informed the ATC controller who was not even aware of this development. The landing aircraft was later asked to go around and the Jet aircraft was asked to vacate the runway fast,” said a source at Mumbai airport. The Etihad aircraft was barely one minute away from landing and had the Jet pilot not informed the ATC, catastrophe was inevitable, sources further revealed.’

Reports go on to say that the ATC revealed he was not “trained well enough to handle surface movement radar.”

The matter is currently being investigated by the DGCA.

Source