The Hindu : National : `Wing tip' collision being probed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

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National

`Wing tip' collision being probed

By T.S. Shankar

CHENNAI, OCT. 13. The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has begun a probe into the "wing tip" collision that took place on ground at the Mumbai airport involving a British Airways (BA) Boeing-Jumbo-747 jet and a South African Airways (SAA) Airbus-340 jetliner.

Giving details of the sequence of events that led to the incident at 2 a.m. on Monday, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) sources told The Hindu that soon after the BA speedbird landed from London and the SAA flight from Johannesburg, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower authorities told the pilot of the BA jet to follow the Taxiway Delta and conveyed to the SAA commander to continue on the Taxiway Juliet.

And in view of the bunching of departures of flights at that time, both the widebodied planes were told to "hold" on to the Delta Taxitrack.

Instead, the BA flight continued in the taxiway and in the process the "wing tip" of the Jumbo plane collided with the SAA aircraft wingtip. Immediately, both the planes were grounded by the DGCA authorities.

Detailed statements from both the pilots were recorded. The grounded jetliners were later released for normal flying after carrying out repairs to the wings and pre-departure checks after obtaining necessary air safety and airworthiness clearances.

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