DRONE SPOTTED

The Mumbai airport was put on high alert on Sunday after a private airline pilot reportedly spotted a red-drone flying some distance away from the airport locality on Sunday afternoon. The pilot

immediately informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the Domestic Airport which alerted Mumbai police control room at 2.24 pm. “It was around 3 pm today when the captain of a Delhi-bound Indigo flight noticed a drone like object in the sky. The same was brought to the notice of airline authorities including Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Mumbai Police too has been alerted of the same,” said a source from CISF. The Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Virendra Mishra told the Free Press Journal that he has still not spoken to the pilot. “The pilot has informed the ATC that he has spotted drone like material approximately 3 nautical miles from the runaway. We are still verifying,” said Mishra. The pilot spotted the drone around 900-feet from the ground level just seconds after the flight took off. Security has been stepped up in adjacent police stations including Santacruz, Vakola, Vile Parle and Juhu, said Mishra. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has banned the flying of drones and other such objects near an airport for security reasons. The Airport police have made a diary entry to the incident and further investigations are under way.