It was around May 2020. Moments before landing with 440 Haj passengers on board, it was the co-pilot who first spotted an aircraft on the runway in Kolkata.

At that time, Kolkata did not yet have CAT-III ILS. ILS, or Instrument Landing System which helps guide aircraft safely onto the runway. CAT-III allows landings even with visibility as low as 50 metres. Back in 2008 or 2009, however, Kolkata operated under CAT-II conditions, which required a minimum visibility of around 300 metres.

It was a winter morning, likely in November or December. Visibility had dropped to around 300 metres. A Haj flight was returning from Jeddah.

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Every year, a large number of pilgrims travel from Kolkata to Jeddah for Haj. After spending over a month there, they return. For this purpose, Air India arranges flights. That year, a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 had been chartered to carry Haj passengers. On board were around 440 pilgrims, along with two pilots and about 20 crew members.

A runway mistake in low visibility nearly led to disaster

The aircraft was approaching the main runway from the Birati side. The pilots were in communication with Kolkata Air Traffic Control (ATC), which gave them final clearance to land. After this landing, two aircraft, one from Alliance Air and another from Jet Airways, were scheduled for take-off.

Both aircraft had reached the holding point via the Alpha taxiway. As per international aviation rules, two aircraft can never occupy the runway at the same time. After one aircraft lands and vacates the runway, the next aircraft moves in for take-off.

However, due to poor visibility, the Alliance Air ATR aircraft mistakenly crossed the holding point and entered the runway before the Haj flight had landed. The commander of that aircraft was a foreign pilot. According to ATC officials present that day, visibility was so low that only a small portion of the runway near the tower was visible.

As a result, ATC did not notice that the Alliance aircraft had entered the runway. However, once inside, the Alliance pilot realised the mistake. He attempted to turn back and exit via the Alpha taxiway, but by then the Jet Airways aircraft had already reached behind him, blocking the path.

At that very moment, the Haj flight was just about 100 feet above the runway.

Inside the cockpit were two Saudi pilots. The senior pilot was handling the controls, focused on the instrument panel. The junior co-pilot was in contact with ATC and was monitoring the runway. It was he who first spotted the aircraft on the runway.

He immediately shouted, “Go around,” instructing the pilot to abort the landing and climb back up. The senior pilot reacted instantly, without hesitation, and pulled the aircraft up.

Maloy Dutta, then Joint GM of ATC and the officer who led the investigation, still recalls the moment vividly. He said, “The landing gear had already been deployed and locked. Just one or two seconds later, it could have turned into a catastrophe. As the aircraft flew over the runway, the wheels came dangerously close to the Alliance aircraft. If there had been even a slight delay, Kolkata could have witnessed a horrific disaster.”

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Officials say that if anything had happened to the 440 Haj passengers, the thousands of people waiting outside the airport could have reacted violently. The situation could have spiralled out of control.

Initially, ATC could not understand why the Haj flight had aborted the landing. When asked, the Saudi pilot informed them that there was an aircraft on the runway. Upon being contacted, the Alliance pilot admitted his mistake. The aircraft was then guided off the runway via the Charlie taxiway, and the Haj flight was later safely landed.

Maloy Dutta added that the two Jet Airways women pilots were key witnesses to the incident. However, they refrained from directly blaming the Alliance pilot in their statements. Despite that, disciplinary action was taken against him.