NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday suspended an air traffic controller’s (ATCO) licence for three months after two flights were allowed to take off simultaneously from two runways of Bengaluru airport and a collision was averted due to the intervention of the approach radar controller, people aware of the matter said.
The two flights had hundreds of passengers on board.
The incident, formally described as the breach of separation, took place on January 7 when the airport’s south tower controller cleared IndiGo flight 6E 455 (Bengaluru to Kolkata) for take-off in coordination with the approach radar controller. At the same time, the north tower controller also cleared IndiGo flight 6E 246 (Bengaluru to Bhubaneswar) without consulting the south tower or approach radar controller.
