'Near miss' in Pune airspace

By T.S. Shankar.

CHENNAI, DEC. 16. A reported airmiss in the Pune air space has brought fresh worry for the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is just coming to grips with a similar development at the Chennai airport.

The ``near miss'' was reported from the Pune Terminal Area Control, which falls in the Mumbai Flight Information Region (FIR). The Chennai airspace witnessed an incident recently involving the same domestic carriers.

Confirming the mid-air incident recorded last week involving an Indian Airlines and Jet Airways aircraft cruising on the Hyderabad-Pune sector, Mr. H.S. Khola, Director-General of Civil Aviation, said he was enquiring into its gravity.

``I know the Pune case also. The cockpit crew have reported the matter to our Mumbai regional air safety office, which is probing the reported incident. I do not have details about the gravity of the mid-air violation as yet. That would come to light only after the completion of the probe,'' he said.

The ``only difference between the Chennai and Pune incidents, was that in the former it was not reported to the ATC and DGCA authorities, whereas the Pune case has been brought to the notice of the Mumbai regional Air Safety office.''

Refuting reports about attempts to keep the Pune incident under wraps, Mr. Khola made it clear that ``just because the Pune case was brought to the notice of our Western region office, it would not mean that the case would be treated leniently''. Disciplinary action, if required against the crew, would be taken.

On complaints by line pilots about the lack of coordination between the Mumbai FIR and the Pune Area Control on the sensitive issue of according the required flight levels, Mr. Khola said the entire gamut of issues concerning flight safety would be covered by the probe in the light of the recent Pune incident.

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