Air Traffic Control (ATC) plays a crucial role in aviation safety, sometimes more crucial than the pilot himself, the Bombay High Court remarked on Monday .Chief Justice Dipankar Datta cited a Hindi film Runway 34 to buttress his views on the significance of ATC in aviation industry."I happened to see a movie Runway 34. Nothing depends on the pilot. Everything depends on ATC tower. We sit safely, thinking the pilot will handle and has announced that we are set for landing or take off and everything is fine. But it all depends on several other factors. One mistake here and there...anything can happen anything could happen,” CJ Datta remarked.The remarks were made while hearing a public interest litigation filed in 2019 which raised grievance against the high rise buildings near the Mumbai International Airport.The petition contended that landing and take off at the airport was becoming difficult due to tall buildings blocking pilots' view.To this, CJ Datta quipped that in aviation, everything depended on ATC and one mistake by them could lead to untoward incident..Yashwant Shenoy, the petitioner appearing in person, suggested that for more information on this issue, the division bench including Justice MS Karnik could watch the Hollywood film Sully.Shenoy’s contention was that with high rise buildings close to the airport, and slums already present close by, in the event of an accident, lot of lives will be lost.“With the high rise close to the airport, and slums close by if there is a crash we may lose 5,000 souls,” Shenoy submitted. He added that in cities like Mumbai, the builders have a strong lobby and they will create lot of legal hurdles.“Bombay has a builder lobby. First there is construction of buildings, then they will invoke the right to live for the tenants,” Shenoy contended..The petitioner was informed that the Mumbai city collector will be holding a meeting on the issue where stakeholders will be present and Shenoy could attend the same where he can draw the attention of the authorities to the concerns he has rasied.The Bench then posted the matter for further hearing on July 28.
Air Traffic Control (ATC) plays a crucial role in aviation safety, sometimes more crucial than the pilot himself, the Bombay High Court remarked on Monday .Chief Justice Dipankar Datta cited a Hindi film Runway 34 to buttress his views on the significance of ATC in aviation industry."I happened to see a movie Runway 34. Nothing depends on the pilot. Everything depends on ATC tower. We sit safely, thinking the pilot will handle and has announced that we are set for landing or take off and everything is fine. But it all depends on several other factors. One mistake here and there...anything can happen anything could happen,” CJ Datta remarked.The remarks were made while hearing a public interest litigation filed in 2019 which raised grievance against the high rise buildings near the Mumbai International Airport.The petition contended that landing and take off at the airport was becoming difficult due to tall buildings blocking pilots' view.To this, CJ Datta quipped that in aviation, everything depended on ATC and one mistake by them could lead to untoward incident..Yashwant Shenoy, the petitioner appearing in person, suggested that for more information on this issue, the division bench including Justice MS Karnik could watch the Hollywood film Sully.Shenoy’s contention was that with high rise buildings close to the airport, and slums already present close by, in the event of an accident, lot of lives will be lost.“With the high rise close to the airport, and slums close by if there is a crash we may lose 5,000 souls,” Shenoy submitted. He added that in cities like Mumbai, the builders have a strong lobby and they will create lot of legal hurdles.“Bombay has a builder lobby. First there is construction of buildings, then they will invoke the right to live for the tenants,” Shenoy contended..The petitioner was informed that the Mumbai city collector will be holding a meeting on the issue where stakeholders will be present and Shenoy could attend the same where he can draw the attention of the authorities to the concerns he has rasied.The Bench then posted the matter for further hearing on July 28.
