IB says ATC miscommunication caused the aircraft collision threat

The blame-game over the February 11 near-miss involving Air India and Aviation Research Centre (ARC) aircraft over Jorhat in Upper Assam continues, with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) blaming the incident on "miscommunication" by air traffic control (ATC).

In a missive to the civil aviation ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week, an IB officer of the deputy director rank squarely put the blame on ATC. Sources said the IB claim is based on findings of an internal probe that checked all relevant records.

The findings will, however, have no bearing on a separate DGCA probe under way. "DGCA will find out what went wrong and also fix the responsibility," a ministry source said. 

On February 11, AI's IC-206 carrying 43 passengers from Dibrugarh to Kolkata and ARC's IL-76 Gajraj came 300 feet of each other. But the pilot of IC-206 immediately dropped altitude and a deadly collision was averted.

Preliminary investigation revealed IL-76 had been told to fly at 19,000 feet, but it came down to 17,000 feet, forcing IC-206 to fly low to avoid collision. In aviation parlance, the incident is called breach of vertical separation limit that is 2,000 feet. 

The IB probe blames ATC, Jorhat, which is under the Indian Air Force. Sources said the role of the air traffic controllers manning the tower will be probed.

Yogesh Kumar/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication