An Ariana Afghan Airlines plane landed on the incorrect runway on Sunday at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), averting a serious incident. Air Traffic Control (ATC) cleared Afghan Air’s flight FG-311 (an A310 aircraft) from Kabul to land on runway 29L, which was being used for landings, according to officials informed of the situation. Takeoffs were being conducted on the new parallel runway 29R. The aircraft, however, touched down on runway 29R.
“The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), which is looking into the matter, has asked the crew for a written statement,” an official stated. According to preliminary results, the pilots were instructed to land on runway 29R, which is the proper one, and there was no error on the part of air traffic control (ATC). An official with knowledge of the situation stated, “The PIC (pilot-in-command) has acknowledged the clearance for runway 29L to the local air traffic control (ATC).”
“When questioned, the pilot, Capt. Abdul Maroof Sikandari, stated that the aircraft was established on the ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach for 29L,” another official stated. According to him, both ILS systems stopped working following the last approach fix. Additionally, he has blamed the mishap on low visibility and a lack of lateral direction, which caused the aircraft to veer off course.
With four runways—27/09, 28/10 (both older runways), 29L/11R, and 29R/11L—the Delhi airport handles more than 1,200 aircraft every day. The newest runway is scheduled to open in 2023.
The testimony from the cockpit crews claims that the pilots didn’t realise they had landed on the incorrect runway until they had left the runway. A third official confirmed that the crew blamed the deviation on limited visibility and ILS failure, saying that the “ATC tower informed the pilots that they had touched down on runway 29R instead of runway 29L.”
Statements from the flight crew are being reviewed, according to officials. According to the official, “the regulator is reviewing the sequence of events to understand how the misalignment occurred during the final approach.”
