india

Updated: Nov 14, 2019 20:48 IST

A major mishap was averted at the Bengaluru airport on Monday when GoAir flight from Nagpur carrying 180 passengers missed the runway in bad weather conditions. The entire crew was grounded and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched an investigation, reports news agency ANI.

The incident happened at the Bengaluru airport when flight G8-811, an A320 aircraft, landed outside the airstrip instead of the runway at around 7.15 am.

“After the incident, the GoAir flight G8 811 from Nagpur to Bengaluru was diverted to Hyderabad and all the passengers and crew landed safely in Hyderabad. Pending an investigation by GoAir and the aviation regulator, the flight crew has been kept off flying duty. The safety of our passengers and crew is of paramount importance to GoAir,” a GoAir spokesperson said.

The incident was reported to the DGCA—the aviation regulator—soon after it occurred, the spokesperson added.

The regulatory body for civil aviation has summoned both the pilots to appear before it on Friday.

In August this year, the country’s aviation regulator suspended 12 pilots from across the country, in six different investigations following lapses. Industry experts said the rapid frequency of incidents suggested the training imparted to pilots needs improvement.

The six cases that the DGCA had been investigating cover a three-month period, beginning with April 29 when SpiceJet’s (B737 aircraft) Delhi-Shirdi flight overshot the runway. On June 9, pilots of Air Asia’s Delhi- Srinagar flight ignored the warning that the aircraft’s first engine had failed.

June 30 saw two separate incidents of flights overshooting the runway – one was by Air India Express’s B737 aircraft, operating from Dubai to Mangalore, and the other was a SpiceJet aircraft operating on the Bhopal-Surat route. On July 1, a Jaipur-Mumbai SpiceJet flight overshot the main runway at Mumbai airport. On July 2, a Spicejet B737 veered off the runway at Kolkata airport and damaged four runway edge lights.