NEW DELHI: In yet another case of an air miss, an incident between IndiGo and a SpiceJet aircraft was averted at Ahmedabad airport.
According to official sources, the incident occurred on Friday evening when a SpiceJet flight had to abort take-off at the last minute as an IndiGo plane could not clear the runway due to the presence of rabbits on the airstrip at the airport.
The matter has been reported the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
According to sources, the SpiceJet pilot saw Indigo flight was still on the runway whereas it was supposed to be off the runway by then. They were asked to enter backtrack and wait departure clearance.
However, a moment later air traffic control at Ahmedabad intervened. The pilot of Indigo reported that there were some rabbits on the runway and this required the ATC to advise SpiceJet to hold position, forcing the pilot to abort take-off at the last minute.
As the IndiGo pilot stopped the aircraft, the nose of the aircraft was still on taxiway and tail of aircraft still on the runway. While SpiceJet pilots maintain in their report that the IndiGo aircraft wasn’t cleared off the runway when SpiceJet was ready to take off.
Both the pilots reported ATC about the incident to the DGCA.
SpiceJet said its aircraft backtracked and lined up on the runway and was cleared by ATC for take-off. However the ATC, noticed that the previous flight of another airline (IndiGo), which had landed and still had not vacated the runway.
“ATC instructed the SpiceJet pilots to hold position. Following the ATC instructions, the SpiceJet pilots rejected the take off and returned to the bay. At all times, the SpiceJet pilots followed the ATC instructions,” it said.