DGCA suspends license of 2 pilots of Taneja Aerospace in Nanded runway excursion incident

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the license for one year of two pilots of Taneja Aerospace in a runway excursion incident at Nanded.

The incident took place on September 11, 2019, and the aircraft involved was a Cessna-525A VT BRT. The investigation has revealed that the pilot in command and the first officer decided to land on runway 10 despite the approach light system not operational and against the Air Traffic Controller's advice to land on runway 28.

"Aircraft touched down on the left of the runway centreline. The crew failed to control the aircraft within the runway and it skidded to further left of the runway into the soft soil and damaged the aircraft," the DGCA has noted.

While the DGCA issued showcause notice to the pilot in command and first officer to submit the explanation about the incident, the regulator did not find the submission satisfactory and concluded that the crew did not follow the requirements of adverse runway landing performance as per airplane flight manual.

The crew also violated the requirements of CAR Section 8, Series O, Part-II on the loading of aircraft and hence carried more load than allowed.

Nanded airfield was built in 1958 and is considered to be the first airport in Marathwada region but it remained underdeveloped for many years. Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji airport was inaugurated at Nanded in 2008.