New Delhi, Dec. 27: A plane carrying 154 fliers today careened off the runway in Goa and landed in a ditch while two other fully loaded ones came face to face barely 40 metres apart on the taxiway in Delhi, raising questions on airline safety in the world's fastest growing aviation market.
Providentially, disasters were averted in both cases, one caused by a "technical glitch" and the other allegedly because of "miscommunication" from Air Traffic Control.
In the first case, a Jet Airways Boeing 737 aircraft veered off the runway at Dabolim airport shortly before take-off close to daybreak, crossing a field before spinning into a ditch on the side of a service road.
A dozen persons suffered "minor injuries" as the 154 passengers and seven crew on the Mumbai-bound flight were evacuated, Jet said in a statement. All are safe, it said.
Television images showed the injured lying on stretchers in darkness on the service road, with fire engines parked near the stricken plane, which appeared to have lost its front undercarriage, and damaged a wing as it rested on its belly and engine casings.
In the second incident at New Delhi airport, a SpiceJet airplane was preparing to take off at the same time as an Indigo flight had landed and was headed to the runway's taxiway, but the pilots avoided a collision and no one was injured, the two airlines said in separate statements.
The Indigo flight arriving from Lucknow had 176 passengers and crew on board, while the Hyderabad-bound SpiceJet aircraft was carrying 187 fliers. The commanders of both planes immediately intimated the ATC and switched off their engines, averting a head-on collision.
Officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told this newspaper there was no cause for worry as such incidents sometimes happened because of the "human" factor. India follows all internationally mandated safety protocols, they said.
"The final picture will emerge only after probes by the DGCA and related agencies are completed," an official said.
The DGCA and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are among authorities investigating both incidents.
With the Indian aviation market growing at 20 per cent last year - double the pace of China, according to the International Air Transport Association - safety-related incidents are obviously a cause for worry despite DGCA assurances.
Soon after the freak incidents were reported, civil aviation minister A. Gajapathi Raju tweeted: "Thorough time-bound investigation and corrective action shall be ensured. Action will also be taken in case there is violation of procedures."
DGCA data show that air safety incidents prompting regulatory action touched 280 till August, beating the 275 cases for all of last year. At this pace, the number could rise to over 400 by the end of 2016, making it the worst in three years for aviation safety, the DGCA warned in its report.
Earlier this month, junior civil aviation minister Jayant Sinha told the Lok Sabha there had been 409 safety violations by the crew of scheduled, non-scheduled and general aviation aircraft in the last three years.
In January 2014, the US Federal Aviation Administration had lowered India's aviation safety ranking to a category that includes Ghana, Indonesia, Uruguay and Zimbabwe because of lack of sufficient safety personnel.
Aviation analysts said that although the ranking was upgraded within a year, incidents like the ones in Delhi and Goa today could be a result of manpower shortage in critical sections like the ATC, leading to human error.
While the ATC needs around 3,600 personnel, only about 2,900 have been recruited till date.
On the Delhi incident, SpiceJet in its statement today said: "SpiceJet flight SG 123 operating Delhi-Hyderabad was following ATC instructions at all times at the Delhi airport. While taxiing, the SpiceJet crew observed another aircraft on the same taxiway in the opposite direction. Acting promptly, the SpiceJet crew immediately stopped the aircraft and intimated the ATC."
In a similarly worded statement, IndiGo said: "Flight 6E 769 Lucknow-Delhi observed another aircraft in front of it while taxiing. The Captain took the decision to switch off the engine and reported the incident to ATC. All 176 passengers and crew are safe. As an airline, we rely upon the ATC's traffic advisory and ensure to comply with their instructions".
The Jet statement on the Goa belly-landing said: "The flight 9W 2374 from Goa-Mumbai skidded off the runway at Dabolim airport this morning due to a technical glitch while aligning for takeoff."
