Scare at Mumbai airport after man walks into path of taxiing SpiceJet flight; alert pilots avert disaster

A man caused a security scare at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport by getting on Runway 27 and approaching a taxiing flight, according to several media reports. In a video being circulated on social media, the man is seen walking on the runway. Reports said that he climbed the boundary wall before causing the scare.

A person enters runway at Mumbai airport after scaling wall. He crosses the perimeter intrusion identification system. On seeing the person, Spicejet aircraft on runway 27 began engine shutdown. Person has been taken into custody. pic.twitter.com/Fh0tuo2ms7

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) August 22, 2019

Pilots of the SpiceJet flight SG634, which was waiting for takeoff, noticed the man and alerted the airport security. A team of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) then detained the man. “The pilots of the SpiceJet plane showed presence of mind and immediately shut down the engines to avert any accident when they saw the man walking up the plane that was standing on runway 27,” a DGCA official was quoted as saying by PTI. A Mumbai Police official told PTI, “As per the initial investigation, the person is of unsound mind and it was his dream to see an aircraft from close vicinity. Nothing suspicious (was found) in the incident.” Another police official said the person had all the “documents” to show he was “mentally unsound”. “No action has been taken against him. His family members are coming to take him home,” he added. A Directorate General of Civil Aviation  (DGCA) official said the 26-year-old man, who hailed from Sion area, jumped the wall from south side of the runway around 1.30 pm on Thursday, and crossed the perimeter intrusion identification system. The DGCA will further probe the incident, he said. The CISF has also ordered an inquiry into it. Around the time of the incident, the main runway was reportedly shut for scheduled maintenance and flight operations were shifted to another runway. With inputs from PTI