Mid-air collision between IndiGo flight, BSF aircraft averted, DGCA initiates probe

New Delhi: Civil aviation regulator DGCA on Friday initiated a probe into a near-miss between an IndiGo flight and an aircraft operated by a government agency at a height of 26,000 feet over Jammu and Kashmir. The central government owned aircraft is believed to be from BSF’s fleet. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi was reported to be travelling on board the BSF aircraft. However, this could not be independently verified. The budget passenger carrier IndiGo in a statement said that its alert pilot and a state-of-the-art anti-collision system -TCAS-RA- installed on its aircraft helped avert the mid-air collision at a height of 26,000 feet. “IndiGo flight 6E-653 (Delhi-Srinagar) was maintaining FL 260 (26,000 feet), reciprocal aircraft was climbing out of FL 250 (25,000 feet), when our pilot alerted the Air Traffic Control (ATC), but before the ATC could react, TCAS-RA alerted our aircraft to take action to avoid any untoward situation,” the airline said. “IndiGo pilot followed SOPs (standard operating procedures) and filed the necessary report. IndiGo proactively informed the regulator,” it said.