DGCA suspends licenses of two Alliance Air pilots following runway excursion incident at Jabalpur Airport

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Following an incident of runway excursion at the Jabalpur Airport on March 12, India's aviation regulator DGCA has suspended the licenses of two Alliance Air's pilots. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said its probe found that during landing at the Jabalpur airport, the aircraft floated for a long period and touched down approximately 900 metres after the aiming point (touchdown point).

Alliance Air was operating an ATR-72 turboprop aircraft on March 12 from Delhi to Jabalpur, and despite a long float, the two pilots decided to land the aircraft. Their actions led to the plane overshooting the runway, jeopardizing the safety of passengers, said the regulator. 

Further, DGCA said that a Go Around is performed in case of long float to avoid runway excursion, but pilots didn't call for the same. "The decision of PF (pilot flying) to continue in spite of long float resulted into long landing and subsequently runway excursion. PNF (Pilot not flying) did not call out for Go-Around despite of prolonged flare," the regulator said.

A "Go-Around" is done when a pilot feels that the aircraft does not have a stabilised approach just before landing. In the statement, the DGCA said the above "action or inaction" of the crew jeopardized the safety of the aircraft and its occupants and was in violation the Aircraft Rules 1937 and Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR).

"The privileges of the licenses held by both the operating crew have been suspended for a period of one year," it mentioned. 

With PTI inputs