Click to play videoMumbai: In Mumbai airport, Air India flight no IC 886 prepares for take off with 148 passengers. The plane has maximum fuel, starts rolling and speeds up to 120 knots when the pilot sees a helicopter on the runway.
Captain SS Kohli aborts takeoff seconds before the critical speed of no return averting disaster and saving the 148 on board.
This Air force MI 8 Helicopter which strayed onto the runway was part of a convoy of three helicopters ferrying President Prathibha Patil.
She was traveling in the second helicopter. ATC sources say the Helicopter landed without permission.
But air force says that the helicopter pilots were in touch with the traffic controllers throughout.
“They are the top pilots so they should have been in touch with the ATC,” says Air Force spokesperson Wing Commander, Mahesh Upasini.
ATC sources say the control tower was in touch with the last helicopter in the convoy. The first chopper should have been the point of contact - it landed while still to be cleared.
ATC also says they were aware of VVIP movement and the President's convoy.
The latest near miss at Mumbai involving the President's helicopter only shows that a major error can happen anytime because of the tremendous pressure on the systems here with over 700 flights operating everyday."
The air force has started an internal inquiry. The Director General of Civil aviation has also started its own investigation.
But the chilling fact remains- that if it were not for a timely decision by the captain Mumbai airport would have been the scene of a major disaster.
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