At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday afternoon, an Ariana Afghan Airlines flight from Kabul accidentally touched down on a runway reserved for takeoffs, just missing a serious accident. Fortunately, the incident did not result in a tragic headline, but it raised significant issues regarding communication, visibility, and air safety.
Ariana Flight Lands On Active Take-Off Runway At Delhi Airport
An Airbus A310 operated by Ariana Afghan Airlines, flight FG 311, was scheduled to land on Runway 29L, which is the runway used for incoming flights. Instead, it touched down on Runway 29R, which is normally utilised for departures.
Even though a plane was scheduled to take off from 29R, none was actually on the runway at that moment, Times of India reported. If there had been, this could easily have turned into a runway collision, one of the most dangerous types of aviation accidents.
According to the Times of India, the pilot blamed the incident on two things: the Instrument Landing System‘s (ILS) malfunction and poor visibility during the final approach. During landings, especially in bad weather or poor visibility, pilots use the ILS to make sure they are properly aligned with the runway.
The pilot told authorities that after crossing the final approach point, both ILS systems stopped giving proper guidance, causing the aircraft to drift off its intended path. With visibility already poor, the crew believed they were aligned with the correct runway until they landed and realised it was the wrong one.
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Major Accident Averted Amid Low Visibility
According to the Times of India, the captain reportedly also said that Delhi Air Traffic Control didn’t alert them about the deviation from the correct runway path. This claim is still under investigation, and officials have not confirmed whether the ATC did or didn’t catch the wrong alignment in time.
The aircraft had landed on the wrong runway, and the pilot quickly reported this to ATC. India’s aviation authorities have started a comprehensive investigation that includes the operation and condition of the ILS, radar and ATC recordings, weather data analysis, and pilot decision-making in low visibility.
Such incidents are taken extremely seriously because even a few seconds’ misjudgement on a runway can have huge consequences. Landing on a take-off runway is one of the most serious errors in aviation.
Sunday’s incident was avoided not because of strong systems or perfect coordination, but purely because the take-off runway happened to be empty at that exact moment.
Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/Aero Icarus
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