The IAF is probing into an incident wherein its four fighter jets entered into the civilian flightpath over Nagpur on Monday without informing the Air Traffic Control (ATC). The Airports Authority of India (AAI) lodged a complaint with Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) who in turn took up the issue with the IAF.
The AAI lodged a complaint with DGCA that the fighter aircraft had entered into the designated civilian airspace at noon on Monday. Civil Aviation Ministry sources said DGCA has sought inputs on the incident from the Air Headquarters, while IAF officials said here on Tuesday they were investigating into the incident and the related allegations.
The incident occurred when four fighter aircraft entered the “defined area,” which is identified for civilian air traffic, without any information to or coordination with the Nagpur Air Traffic Control (ATC), sources said. The jets remained in the civilian flight path for about 15 minutes.
The fighter jets were operating at ‘flight level 230’ which caters to civilian planes and were not in VHF (Very High Frequency) or radio contact with the ATC tower.
The incident, termed as “serious violation” by civil aviation authorities, could have led to a major accident as the Nagpur airport has a number of flights landing and taking off around that time, sources said.