Air India has grounded two pilots whose aircraft entered the active runway of Mumbai airport on Monday while it was taxiing to the end of the airstrip for take-off. Due to the inadvertent runway incursion, an incoming flight that was about of touch down had to do a last-minute go-around. The go-around was safe and the AI aircraft took off to its destination, with the crew being grounded after operating the return flight to Mumbai.
“The pilots have been grounded pending investigation, which will determine why the runway incursion took place. Did air traffic control give instructions correctly and our pilots misunderstood them? Or were the ATC instructions not clear? Only a probe will determine whose fault it was,” said a senior AI official.
The scare happened around 2.30pm when the AI669 was taxiing to take off to Bhubaneswar. Sources said the Airbus A320 aircraft was to reach the take-off point of the runway from T2 by crossing the airport’s main runway.
