NEW DELHI, India, April 24 -- More than 300 passengers of two aircrafts at the Indira Gandhi International Airport had a miraculous escape on Sunday night after the two flying ships came too close to each other within minutes of taking off. The incident happened at around 9.45 pm when domestic aircrafts took off at a difference of about 15 seconds.

While one plane took off from the primary runway (28/10), the other plane departed from the secondary runway (27/09). The runways, which are not parallel, pose a hindrance once the aircrafts take off simultaneously, as their flight paths converge at a distance of 1.5 nautical miles. Both the planes belonged to a private full-cost carrier. "According to rules, the minimum separation between two planes is 5 nautical miles but these two aircraft came as close as 1 nautical mile, which is about 1.8 kms," said a senior Air Traffic Controller. "The incident led to a panic in the control room. If the planes had taken off at the same time, there was a chance of them colliding at a short distance from the airport," he said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is investigating into the incident. "The matter is under investigation. Whenever there is a breach of separation, both the DGCA and Airports Authority of India probes into the incident," said Director General Kanu Gohain. During the night peak hours, when mostly international and some domestic flights operate, both the runways are operated simultaneously. Simultaneous usage of both the runways started from April 2006 and has recently been extended from nine to ten hours.

Air traffic controllers say simultaneous use puts more pressure on them while they are already overburdened due to lack of manpower. "We need more manpower. The AAI is recruiting more people but they will need at least five years experience to become radar controllers," said an Air Traffic Controller.

The Hindustan Times is provided through HT Syndication, New Delhi.

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