On March 29, 2016, all passengers on board SpiceJet flight 614 and Air Mauritius flight 746 got off and carried on with their plans without realizing one thing – both the aircraft came in close proximity in the Chennai International Airport airspace.
This has gone down in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) record as a near miss incident. Incidents are considered near miss when two aircraft have such proximity that could lead to compromise in their safety on air.
While announcements are made about delay in landing due to bad weather and other technical issues, no announcement is made about such incidents and passengers – all of whom have been lucky – always leave the airport without a clue.
In fact, in just 12 months between March 3, 2015 and March 29, 2016, there have 35 such cases. All these cases have occurred in just eight airports, including one in the Jammu (IAF-controlled) airport, information accessed by TOI reveals. Airports/airspace in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai account for 26