NEW DELHI: The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), a body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has recommended that all international airports in the country be equipped with devices that can record videos as well as background communications of Air Traffic Controllers inside towers on priority.
It has made the recommendation in its preliminary report into the incident in which Ariana Afghan Airlines from Afghanistan landed on an unassigned runway on November 23 last year.
The report, released a couple of days ago, said the safety recommendation was made in order to analyse the controller’s actions, post any incident or accident.
Sharing details on the incident involving AFG311, an Airbus A310-304 model, it said that Delhi Airport features two runway systems - the Northern Runway System, which includes Runway 09/27 and Runway 10/28, and the Southern Runway System, including Runway 11L/29R and Runway 29L/11R. The Southern Runway system is operated in a segregated mode with 29L only for arrivals and 29R meant only for departures.
The incident occurred at 12.06 pm. “After initial descent with Delhi area control, AFG311 was released to Approach Control and thereafter, radar vectored for ILS Approach RWY 29L. Subsequently, it was released to Tower by Approach Control for Final Approach for landing. “
The flight touched down on Localiser Runway 29L. “The Tower Controller instructed AFG311 to continue to approach RWY 29L which was read back correctly. At 2NM (Nautical miles) to Touchdown, the tower controller gave landing clearance to AFG311 for RWY 29L while AIC2243, was departing from RWY 29R. AFG311 landed on an unassigned RWY 29R.” This happened at 12.06 pm and that was despite it receiving clearance for Runway 29L only.
After landing on Runway 29R, the aircraft vacated via Taxiway R. The crew later informed the ATC that they lost the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at 4 nautical miles from touchdown due to poor visibility and were unable to differentiate between Runway RWY29L and RWY29R.
The Pilot in Command and Flying Officer held a valid licence and medical certificate to operate the flight, the report said.
Elaborating on the present status of the inquiry, the AAIB said that the initial statement from the crew and controllers has been taken. The recordings of the approach radar have been secured for further analysis apart from ATC transcripts.
The crew statements regarding arriving and departing flights at the time of the incident have been obtained. The aircraft tech log records for the previous six months have been obtained for scrutiny.