The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has begun an investigation into the “air miss” incident involving an IAF flight carrying UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and other VIPs and a passenger airline on September 10.
The two planes came close to each other at a vertical separation of 1,000 feet, 100 nautical miles north-west of Delhi (over Punjab), 15 minutes after the IAF aircraft took off from the capital.

Addressing a press conference here, Director General of Civil Aviation Kanu Gohain said the incident cannot be termed as an unsafe situation for the two planes as neither of them reported anything amiss. Both the planes, which are equipped with both aircraft collision avoidance system (ACAS) and traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS), did not report any incident that was supposed to be unsafe. Both the aircraft were in constant touch with the air traffic control.

Accompanied by IAF Assistant Chief of Staff Air Vice Marshal K J Mathews, the DGCA said the IAF Boeing 737 was carrying the VIPs to Srinagar, while the passenger aircraft, a Virgin Atlantic Airlines Airbus A340, was approaching Delhi from London.

Altitude assigned
Gohain said the IAF aircraft was assigned to fly at 30,000 feet, while Virgin was asked to maintain an altitude of 31,000 feet.

Those aircraft flying above 29,000 feet are supposed to maintain a vertical separation of 2,000 feet if they are equipped with reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM).

However, while the Virgin jet was fitted with this instrument, the IAF plane was not. “No unsafe situation was created which could have led to safety issues. Both aircraft, fitted with ACAS, maintained touch with ATC and neither of them got warning of another plane passing close by. However, the DGCA will investigate the shortcomings, if any,” Gohain added.

AVM Mathews, said the IAF has plans to fit its planes with RVSM in a few months’ time.