Chennai runway incursion: DGCA suspends licences of 2 IndiGo pilots

NEW DELHI: Flying licences of two IndiGo pilots was on Friday suspended for three months for a runway incursion at Chennai airport while operating a flight to Ahmedabad on July 14, 2019.
While air traffic control had asked pilots of this flight, 6E-244, to hold the Airbus A320 at runway holding point, they crossed the same leading to the runway incursion.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) investigated this incident and issued show-cause notices to the expat commander and Indian co-pilot “to explain in writing as to why action should not be taken against (them) for endangering safety of aircraft and passengers on board.” The pilot-in-command accepted his mistake, following which the regulator suspended both the pilots’ flying licences for three months from November 15.
The order issued by DGCA joint DG B S Rai on Friday says: “…investigation has revealed crew did not adhere to (ATC) instruction to hold at runway holding point… crew failed to contact tower frequency even though it was changed over to tower frequency by (surface movement) controller… The (pilots) accepted (their) lapse… crossed the holding point.”
“This is in violation of DGCA advisory circular which states that flight crews should use a ‘continuous loop’ process for actively monitoring and updating their progress and location during taxi. This includes knowing the aircraft’s present location and mentally calculating the next location on the route that will require increased attention. The above action of the crew jeopardised the safety of the aircraft and passengers,” the order says, while suspending their licences for three months from the date of the order issued.