Patel denies reports of Cameron flight glitch

The government on Tuesday allayed fears concerning air travel safety and denied any scare over the landing of British Prime Minister David Cameron's aircraft at Indira Gandhi International Airport following a radar glitch. HT reports.

The government on Tuesday allayed fears concerning air travel safety and denied any scare over the landing of British Prime Minister David Cameron's aircraft at Indira Gandhi International Airport following a radar glitch.

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Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha that the Boeing-747 flight carrying Cameron was "continuously monitored" and "there was no blanking of airspace".

Patel was responding to a calling attention motion in the House on safety problems faced by airlines following the Mangalore air crash on May 22, in which 158 passengers died.

On MPs' queries about reports that a radar glitch delayed the landing of Cameron in Delhi on July 28, Patel replied: "Nothing of that sort happened. The British Prime Minister's plane landed on Runway 11 at 17.56 IST without any delay."

He said, "The British VIP aircraft and all other arrivals and departures in Delhi were constantly monitored simultaneously on Auto Trac-2 (computer system of air traffic control) as well as the Auto Trac-3 system and there was no impact on the ATC operations at any stage on that day. Both are parallel systems."

Patel described the Mangalore air crash as a "blemish" on India's safety record over the past ten years.

"It is important to learn from the mistakes," he said.

In a five-page statement, Patel denied any negligence as the cause behind the crash and said the court of inquiry probing the causes of the crash was expected to submit its report by August 31.