'Mayday' call incident: DGCA allows both Vistara pilots to resume duties

Aviation regulator DGCA Thursday permitted two Vistara pilots, who had issued a 'Mayday' distress call due to low-fuel near Lucknow airport while operating a Mumbai-Delhi flight, to resume their duties till the final investigation report comes in, sources said.

"Both the pilots have been permitted by the DGCA to resume their flying duties. However, the final decision regarding them would be taken once the final investigation report comes in," a source told PTI.

The pilots, who were operating the UK944 flight, were grounded by the DGCA on Tuesday, a day after they issued the distress call.

The preliminary enquiry by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed that when the pilots were approaching Delhi airport's runway 29, at a height of 250 feet, the pilot-in-command decided to divert to Lucknow due to "perceived increase in tail winds beyond the aircraft limitations", source said.

The plane had 3,396 kg of estimated fuel on board (EFOB) when the pilot-in-command took this decision, the sources said.

The pilots - who were approaching for landing and were just 17 miles from runway 27 of Lucknow airport - were informed by the Air Traffic Control (ATC) of the airport that the runway visual range (RVR) is 475 metres and it is dropping to 275 metres, according to the enquiry.

The minimum RVR required for landing safely is 600 metres.

The preliminary enquiry of the DGCA found that due to low visibility, the pilots discontinued the approach towards landing and their aircraft was cleared by the ATC to climb to 4,000 feet, the sources said