Three Prez fleet choppers were not in the wrong: Air chief

Bangalore, Feb 11 (PTI) Air chief Fali H Major
Wednesday said the pilots of the three helicopters of the
Presidential fleet were not in the wrong in Mumbai where a
possible collision with an Air India was averted on Monday.

"Remember that these three helicopters were flown by
some of the most experienced pilots in the Air Force flying
the President. This should be understood very clearly.

"They were not aware of the Air India aircraft
because it was on the tower frequency. So, there was no
contact between the two aircraft," he told reporters here.

He was reacting to media reports blaming the pilot
of the helicopter who landed dangerously close to the Air
India plane allegedly without clearance from the Air Traffic
Control.

Noting that the three helicopters with President
Pratibha Patil and her entourage were coming from Mumbai's
naval base 'INS Kunjali' to Santa Cruz airport, Major said,
"They were on radar frequency of the Santa Cruz control.

"You should remember that no aircraft, no helicopter or
no pilot can change frequency unless asked to change frequency
by the ATC," he said.

The Air Chief Marshal said that the helicopters were
asked on the frequency to land "in sequence 2, 1 and 3.

"1 carrying the President, 2 was security. The three
aircraft were specifically cleared by Bombay ATC on this
frequency to land on runway 27," he said.

"So when they were cleared, they came and landed," he
said.

Major said, "Probably there is a need to fine tune the
procedure from the side of DGCA or the civil aviation because
my pilots will stick to the frequency they were asked to stick
to. That's it". PTI DDC
PMR
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