Mamata Banerjee’s flight lost altitude before landing, Calcutta High Court seeks aviation regulator’s report
India Today
Mamata Banerjee's chartered flight had reported major turbulence minutes before landing in Kolkata. The Calcutta High Court has asked the DGCA to file a report, detailing measures to secure the chief minister's flight.
The country’s aviation regulator - the DGCA - has been instructed by the Calcutta High Court to file a report on the measures taken to secure Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's flight, days after Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s chartered flight reported massive turbulence during landing. The regulator will have to file the report in two weeks.
Mamata Banerjee’s flight had reportedly hit turbulent air pockets minutes before landing at the Kolkata airport. She was on her way back from Varanasi, where she was campaigning for Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav. No one has been injured in the incident. The pilot managed to safely land the craft, the sources added.
Two days after the incident, Mamata Banerjee alleged that it wasn’t mid-air turbulence, but the pilot averting a head-on collision between her chartered plane and aircraft midair, reported news agency PTI. Another aircraft had come in front of her plane, and it was the prompt action of the pilot that averted a midair crisis, she claimed.
"Another plane, all of a sudden, came in front of my aircraft. If the situation had continued for another 10 seconds, there would have been a head-on collision. It was due to the efficiency of the pilot that I survived. The plane climbed down 6,000 feet. I suffered injuries to my back and chest. I still have pain," she told reporters in the assembly, the news agency reported.
A case was filed with the police over the chief minister’s flight suddenly losing altitude before landing.
The court will hear the case next on April 25.
Mamata Banerjee was travelling on a Dassault Falcon 2000 - a 10.3-tonne lightweight plane with the capacity to carry 19 people.
