By Xinhua,
NEW DELHI : An Air India passenger plane about to take off almost ran into a helicopter belonging to the Indian president on the runway of the Mumbai Airport on Monday, reported the semi-official Press Trust of India.
The Air Traffic Control in Mumbai allowed a helicopter of President Pratibha Patil’s fleet to land on the runway of the airport when an Air India plane was about to take off for Delhi, said the report.
The pilot of the Air India IC 866 passenger plane aborted take-off when he saw the helicopter, which was not carrying the president on board at the time, was landing on the runway, the report quoted official sources as saying.
The report said the Air Traffic Control might have given clearance for the helicopter to land simultaneously giving take-off permission to the plane.