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Plane flew over Vajpayee`s residence in November
New Delhi, Jan 223: With images of planes hitting the World Trade Center in the United States fresh in mind, a security scare was caused in November last when an aircraft flew over Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee`s residence, a no-fly zone since the terrorist attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.
Preliminary investigations and a thorough interrogation of the pilot revealed that it was a routine Lufthansa passenger plane from Frankfurt preparing to land at Delhi airport and it had strayed "mistakingly", the sources said.
The pilot was let off and his passport returned after a stern warning.
Taking the matter seriously the government has ordered a high-level inquiry by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Airports Authority of India into the incident.
Initial probe revealed that the Air Traffic Control had cleared the flight for landing. But apparently the pilot touched a wrong control and the plane strayed 40 miles going into the no-fly zone, the sources said.
The ATC quickly alerted him, pulling him out of the zone but not before the security agencies received a shock.
Bureau Report