IndiGo pilots dismissed for mistaking road for runway

New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended flying licences of two pilots of IndiGo for mistaking a road parallel to the runway at Jaipur Airport as the airstrip where they were supposed to land. Fortunately for everyone on board, the alarms went off in the cockpit and the pilots managed to pull the Airbus A-320 up just when it was about 900 feet - less than two minutes - from touching down on the road and averted what could have been a disaster. This major safety lapse of the plane flying dangerously close to a road happened on February 27 when 6E 237 was operating from Ahmedabad to Jaipur and was about to touch down at its destination.The pilots saw the road and aligned the aircraft - whose auto pilot had been switched off - with it to land there. Sensing that the plane descending at about 700 feet a minute was not going down at the right place, the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) loudly started beeping in the cockpit.This alarm made the pilots realise their mistake and they took the plane up again and landed in Jaipur - at the airport runway - in the second attempt.The airline grounded the pilots after this and the DGCA is probing the serious lapse. In a statement, IndiGo said: "IndiGo Flight 6E 237 enroute Ahmedabad to Jaipur being operated with A320 aircraft VT-IGK was involved in EGPWS 'too low terrain' warning on February 27, 2016, when the aircraft was on finals during visual approach at runway 27 at Jaipur.The captain-in-command immediately took a precautionary measure and carried a go-around. The aircraft landed safely on subsequent ILS approach on runway 27.""At IndiGo, the safety and security of customers, crew and the aircraft is top priority. At no time the safety was compromised. Both the pilots have been taken off from flight duty with immediate effect by IndiGo chief of flight safety pending investigation. The matter was duly reported to the DGCA by IndiGo flight safety department," it added.