Meet Captain Anupama Kohli of Air India who saved 261 lives from mid-air collision

NEW DELHI: Captain Anupama Kohli, the commander of the Air Indian flight sheer presence of mind avoided one of India’s major mid-air crash.

The pilot commanding the Air India flight steered her aircraft to safety to avoid a clash with the Vistara flight and saved the day and the lives of 261 passengers.

According to early reports, the Vistara aircraft was flying at an altitude of 29,000 feet, while the AI aircraft was an altitude of 27,000 feet. The two aircraft was just 100 feet away.

A collision was averted after the commander of the Air India flight Anupama swiftly reacted to automatic warning and steered the aircraft to a safer distance.

The Air India flight captain has written in her resolution advisory report that the aircraft was indeed only 100 feet apart from the other plane after which it was immediately veered into a safer distance.

A senior official of the airline told PTI:”The Air India aircraft was going as per the ATC instructions. There was no confusion. But it seems that something had gone wrong between the Vistara pilot and the ATC as the Vistara aircraft kept descending while the ATC was giving different instructions. There was some kind of an argument between them.”

“The Vistara aircraft continued descending. So, finally, when our pilot saw the warning (the Vistara aircraft breaching the mandatory separation) on board, she just took the corrective action and turned the aircraft from the collision point,” Air India said. The Air India pilot’s action was perfect as she followed the resolution advisory and steered the aircraft to a safer distance, it added.

Air India-Vistara incident happened last week on Wednesday (February 7) when Vistara flight UK997, going from Delhi to Pune with 152 passengers on board, was just 100 feet away from Air India flight AI631, which was flying to Bhopal with 109 people.

PTI inputs