New Delhi:
An inquiry has begun into how an Air Force Plane came dangerously close to a passenger jet at the Delhi airport on Wednesday.
The GoAir flight to Mumbai, which had 100 passengers, was forced to abort take-off seconds after its pilot saw the Air Force plane crossing the same runway.
Sources tell the Press Trust of India that aviation regulator DGCA is studying tapes from the Air Traffic Control to determine how the planes came so close to each other - they were just 1100 metres apart - on the runway.
The GoAir flight had got the go-ahead from the Air Traffic Controller to take off shortly after 2.30 pm.
But the Air Force plane had also been cleared to cross the same runway. The Air Traffic Controllers suddenly realised their error, and asked the Air Force plane to stop.
But the pilots allegedly did not hear that message. So the controllers then asked the GoAir pilot to stop. He applied the plane's emergency brakes.
The Air Force plane then crossed the runway.
The GoAir flight took off half an hour later for Mumbai.
What could have been a serious crisis took place minutes after President Pranab Mukherjee's plane took off from the same runway, which had been blocked for his aircraft's departure for Europe.
The Air Force plane's pilot thought the runway was still closed for commercial traffic and began moving across it.