Disaster averted: Ariana Afghan flight from Kabul lands on runway meant for departures at IGIA

NEW DELHI: An Afghanistan Ariana flight from Kabul landed on a runway that is used for take offs at Delhi Airport on Sunday afternoon. Luckily there was no departing aircraft on that runway at that time and the Afghan Airbus A310’s “mistaken” landing did not have serious consequences.

The pilot of the Afghan flight is learnt to have blamed the mix-up on “failure of instrument landing system (ILS) guidance and poor visibility. Aviation authorities have begun a probe and will write to their counterparts in Afghanistan about this serious incident.Ariana Afghan flight FG 311 was cleared to land on runway 29 left (29L) but it landed on runway 29 right (29R) at 12.06 pm on Nov 23. Runway 29R is used for take offs and 29L for landings at IGIA.