Mid-air scare? AI flight crew spot 4 mysterious parachutes near Mumbai

A Chennai-bound Air India flight crew spotted four mysterious colourful parachutes soon after take-off on Friday morning. This was a third such sighting in a fortnight.

A Chennai-bound Air India flight crew spotted four mysterious colourful parachutes soon after take-off on Friday morning. This was a third such sighting in a fortnight.

Mumbai Police is yet to find anything about the six paragliders who were spotted by a pilot about 1.5 to 2 nautical miles away from the city’s coast on January 13. (HT Photo)

According to the message received by the Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) tower, the Airbus 319 was flying at 6,000 feet and about five nautical miles from Vasai when the cockpit crew spotted the parachutes.

“They were yellow, red, green and blue”, a senior ATC official, requesting anonymity, said.

About two weeks ago Mumbai Police went on high alert after a Pawan Hans pilot spotted six paragliders close to the Juhu aerodrome.

A few days later an AI flier bound to Mumbai reported a similar sighting. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a probe in the matter. “The ATC has informed us about message from the AI crew. We will begin our preliminary investigation,” said a senior official.

Read:

Mumbai cops combing city for 6 ‘suspicious’ paragliders spotted by pilot

One week on, Mumbai Police has no clue about ‘suspicious’ paragliders