Earlier this week, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by low fare carrier SpiceJet landed on the wrong runway at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. The incident happened on the afternoon of June 12, 2007 as SpiceJet Flight SG851 was arriving from Jammu in northern India. According to news reports, the aircraft had been directed to land on the airport's main runway, but instead landed on a runway that was closed at the time. No one was injured.An article about the incident in the Times of India reports:
"During the initial probe, the Air Traffic Controller's tapes were played. The tapes revealed that SpiceJet was given an instrumental landing approach for the main runway.FlightGlobal.com is reporting that the two pilots have been temporarily grounded while India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation carries out its investigation of the incident.
They also showed that the pilot acknowledged the instructions but he opted for visual approach and landed on the secondary runway. The wrong landing endangered lives of both passengers on board as also people on ground," said a highly placed source.
Moreover, both the pilots are Indians and supposed to be more well versed with airports here. "The cockpit voice recorder will also be examined to check if there were any sounds that could have distracted the plots' attention. We'll also see if there was any communication gap," said the source.
[Photo Source]
