Damage: Two pilots off duty

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has de-rostered two pilots of an Air India aircraft that damaged runway lights at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on October 26.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has de-rostered two pilots of an Air India aircraft that damaged runway lights at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on October 26.

HT Image

The pilots have been taken off duty till an inquiry is complete. Sources said the DGCA investigating team is also taking down the pilots' statements.

"Both Sachin (known by his first name only) and Manjeet S Bodhi have been taken off from duty,” confirmed an Air India spokesperson.

Sources said the DGCA team has also taken out the flight's Cockpit Voice Recorder to look into the incident in detail.

Also, details of the conversation between the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) and the pilots have been asked for by the agency.

"The flight report of the aircraft says that the pilots had detected some foreign objects on the runway and told the ATC about it. The ATC has been asked to provide the transcript of the conversation,” said an airport source.

Last week, after the runway edge lights of the main runway (10/28) were found damaged, it had to be closed for operations.

Also, some pieces of tyre were found scattered between taxiways B and D. During this period, the new runway (11/29) was in operation and the other runway (09/27) was closed for maintenance.

Consequently, some flights were delayed, with only one runway available for operations.

The runway lights were damaged by Air India flight IC-415, that took off for Patna at 6.22 pm on October 26.