Code red: Untrained ATC officials handling planes put safety at risk
NEW DELHI: The Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has said that some of the staff guiding planes at the country’s air traffic control towers were not qualified to do so in a preliminary report on a near miss over Nagpur airspace that was released last month.
The main reason was “handling of aircraft by an untrained/unauthorised radar controller, who was only trained to handle air traffic in the non-radar environment/procedural/planning,” AAIB said, regarding the Nagpur incident.
The AAIB said this wasn’t the first time its inquiries had uncovered the presence of untrained air traffic controllers (ATCOs) guiding flights. On earlier occasions, 19 unauthorised ATCOs were found in Nagpur, 85 in Delhi and 20 in Varanasi.ET has seen a copy of the AAIB report.
