A Bhavnagar-bound Kingfisher ATR aircraft with 30 passengers,on its initial roll for take-off,was instructed to abort take-off and exit the airports main runway by air traffic controllers (ATCOs) on Monday. The aircrafts delayed response to a take-off instruction,after a delay by a Go Air flight (G8 105) to vacate the runway after just landing,even as another Kingfisher aircraft was approaching to land,made the ATC take what they called a split-second decision to avoid a possible collision. According to officials,the incident took place at 1:36 pm when Kingfishers flight IT 4123 was waiting for take -off from the airports main runway. As IT 4123 lined up for take-off via taxiway Nov 4,Go Airs flight 105 landed. However,there was a delay in the Go Air flight vacating the runway,the usual time being 3 minutes. As Go Airs flight 105 vacated the runway,the ATC gave immediate instructions to Kingfisher flight 4123 to take-off. However,there was no response on the part of the pilot on the first call,said ATC officials. We hardly have 2-3 seconds to decide. When IT 4123 did not respond in the first call,the separation gap between Go Airs flight 105 which had landed and the next arriving aircraft (Kingfishers IT 308 from Delhi) had already started to decrease. So we had to instruct IT 4123 to vacate the runway, said the official. IT 4123 exited the runway via taxiway Echo 1 which is 100 meters ahead from Nov 1. Mumbai ATC General Manager,M G Jhungare said normal procedures were followed. Shortly after Kingfisher flight IT 4123,operating from Mumbai to Bhavnagar had been cleared for take-off by ATC Mumbai around 13:36 hours,the commander of this flight was directed by Mumbai ATC to reject take-off immediately. The aircraft on its initial take-off roll immediately aborted take-off at low speed in compliance with instructions of ATC, said a spokesperson from Kingfisher Airlines. Near misses at Mumbai airportFebruary 10: A major accident was averted after one of the choppers belonging to President Pratibha Patils troupe narrowly missed collision with an Air India commercial aircraft with 150 passengers. June 1,2009: Two aircraft carrying nearly 250 passengers between them were speeding down separate runways of the Mumbai airport before aborting take-offs,seconds before reaching the intersection point of the runways. The planes were seconds away from a collision at the intersection. August 23,2009: Two private planes took off almost simultaneously from the same runway,narrowly averting an air disaster. A DGCA probe was ordered.
