New Delhi, November 11
Civil Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today issued fresh guidelines to airlines for operations at the Mumbai International Airport in view of yesterday’s incident involving a Kingfisher aircraft on Runway 27A.

Flouting laid-down rules, three airlines operated flights during wet runway conditions yesterday and the DGCA has issued show-cause notices to all three operators for alleged violations of its directions regarding wet-runway operations.

The civil aviation regulator has ordered investigation into the incident and de-rostered six pilots of three operators: Kingfisher, Go Air and NACIL.

The ATR 72-212A aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines, operating a scheduled flight on the Bhavnagar-Mumbai sector, skidded off while landing at Mumbai on Runway 27A at 4.40 pm, resulting in damage to the aircraft and a miraculous escape for passengers and crew.

Another tragedy was averted at the Mumbai airport yesterday when minutes before the Kingfisher flight skidded, an Air India flight made a landing that was not normal.

All aboard the Kingfisher flight were evacuated safely, however, six passengers and one crewmember received first aid, the DGCA said adding that the Kingfisher aircraft was not obstructing the runway and operations had been restored. Operations on Runway 27A, where the incident took place, are being reviewed.

The DGCA had directed MIAL to carry out videography of operations on every Tuesday during runway operations. The DGCA, FOI has also been stationed at Mumbai Airport during closure.

Only short runway operations are permitted on Runway 27A side. These short runway operations were permitted after undertaking complete safety assessment and operational requirements in consultation with airlines, AAI, MIAL and other stakeholders, the DGCA squad, adding that during the closure period on Tuesday, 84 movements took place.

The DGCA has issued additional directions to all airlines for strict compliance while using Runway 27A from November 10. According to new guidelines Pilot-1 should be a training captain and Pilot-2 should have minimum 300 hours of experience on the type; no assisted take-off and landing is permitted; no operation will take place when runway surface is wet and pilots are required to file a de-briefing report after every flight.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher airlines denied allegations that pilot/ cockpit crew ran away from the aircraft following the incident. “The cockpit crew and the cabin crew all remained present till all guests had safely exited from the aircraft and performed their duties as required of them in the given situation,” a statement by the airlines said.