Mumbai:
Who was responsible for the Kingfisher aircraft skidding off a wet runway at the Mumbai airport on Tuesday?
Depends on which side is telling the story - there is now a blame game on between airlines and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The incident took place on a shortened part of one of Mumbai's runways which is in use only on Tuesdays to facilitate repairs to the rest of the runway.
Airlines such as Kingfisher insist that an official notification stopping all operations in rainy conditions came two hours after the Kingfisher incident took place.
Not so, says the DGCA, which is India's civil aviation regulator. A DGCA statement says: "...The Chief Flight Operations Inspector of the DGCA called up the airlines, giving them details of the DGCA circular. It was followed up by faxes and emails. Airlines informed the DGCA's office that they have communicated the matter to their pilots. It is incorrect to say that the airlines were not informed."
It is not just Kingfisher. Other airlines, such as Air India and Go Air too had their pilots derostered after they also landed on the same runway in rainy conditions. An Air Traffic Controller was also derostered.