.Airports Authority of India (AAI ) has clarified that there was no safety infringement or flight safety hazard during the AI flight 410 from Patna to Delhi. A report regarding Air India’s flight 410 from Patna to Delhi was recently carried in a section of Press under the heading “Midair scare as flight drops 5000 ft in seconds”. The flight Air India 410 from Patna to Delhi departed at 0937 IST and was under radar surveillance of Varanasi and Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC). Neither pilot in command of the flight had reported any such incident nor radar data of the flight indicated any drop in the altitude of the plane.
The Air India aircraft AI 410 was authorized to climb and maintain flight level 320 i.e., 32,000 ft. At 0956 IST, after crossing a reciprocal traffic of Turkish Airlines aircraft THY70, cruising at FL330 i.e., 33,000 ft., the aircraft was authorized to climb to FL 340 i.e., 34000ft. There was another reciprocal traffic Swiss Air flight SWR138, which was cruising at FL350 (35,000 feet) which crossed AIC 410 at 0959 IST. The altitude with reference to both the reciprocal traffic of Air India flight 410 was vertically separated by 1000 ft. which is a standard vertical separation as prescribed by ICAO. Hence there was no deviation from the standard ATC separation applied between Air India flight 410 and other two reciprocal traffic on the same flight path. Under no circumstances, either during the climb or at cruising altitude, the Air India aircraft 410 had “dropped 5000ft in seconds” as reported in the news item. It appears to sensationalize the issue which otherwise is a Standard Operating Procedure of the ATC and aircraft operations.