DGCA sets up panel to probe snag in Rahul's flight

Aviation regulator DGCA has set up a two-member committee to probe the incident of technical snag in a chartered plane that was carrying Congress President Rahul Gandhi, a senior official said in Mumbai on Friday.

The incident happened during the landing of the flight from New Delhi at Hubballi on Thursday. Alleging “intentional tampering” with aircraft, the Congress on Thursday had demanded a probe into the “suspicious and faulty performance” of the 10-seater Falcon 2000.

“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set up a two-member panel to investigate the incident. While one member is from the Directorate of Air Safety, the other member is from the Directorate of Airworthiness,” a senior DGCA official told PTI.

The panel has been asked to submit its report in the next 2-3 weeks, the official added. As part of the probe, the panel would call cockpit crew and also engineers for questioning about the incident. If required, the committee might also call the operations staff of the particular aircraft to gather details, the official said. On Thursday, a senior DGCA official had confirmed that the aircraft had suffered “technical snag”.

Meanwhile, S K Ahalya, director of the Hubballi airport stated that there was no technical glitch with the aircraft.

Speaking to reporters at the airport in Hubballi, Ahalya asserted that the flight had landed on time.

“We get information even if there is a small problem with the landing of a flight. But on Thursday, neither the air traffic control nor the pilot gave any such information. The aircraft did not go out of the radar’s reach at any time. We don’t know how the confusion was created. One must ask the complainant,” she added.

On the other, the police probing the technical snag in the plane are waiting for technical experts to examine the flaws and submit a report.

“We are waiting for the experts from the DGCA to come as we have no technical knowledge on the subject. Based on their report, we will take further action,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (North Hubballi) H K Pathan, who is the investigating officer in the case, said.

PM calls Rahul

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Rahul just before leaving for China, to enquire about his safety. “It was a private conversation between the two (over phone).

All the authorities concerned were informed about the plane developing snag. After that, the prime minister rang up Rahul enquiring if he was fine,” a Congress source told PTI.