In a glaring violation of air safety norms, a small aircraft carrying Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh took off from an unlit airstrip in Dumka in Jharkand in pitch darkness on Monday night guided by only headlights of jeeps.
Taking note of the incident, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel ordered a probe by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and appealed to VIPs not to pressurise pilots to operate flights.
Singh was accompanied by some senior party leaders in the chartered eight-seater aircraft.
The runway in Dumka airstrip, which does not have air traffic control facility, was lit up for take-off by several vehicles lined up alongside with their headlights on, according to officials and BJP leaders.
The take-off after sunset described as 'risky' by state Civil Aviation Secretary P K Jajoria came months after the crash of a helicopter in Andhra Pradesh claiming the lives of Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy and five others.
In New Delhi, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters, "It is too premature to say who is responsible till the inquiry is over. But I would appeal to VIPs not to pressurise pilots."
BJP leaders in New Delhi denied Singh's airplane violated safety norms saying it was entirely the pilot's decision and their party president was not in a haste to leave.
Aviation experts said the pilot should have refused to take off since Dumka airstrip is not cleared for night flying to avoid any violation of air safety norms.
Sources close to Rajnath Singh claimed that the small aircraft, which had jet engines, required a visibility of up to 800 metres, which was there during take-off.
Asked what then was the need for the vehicles to be lined up along the airstrip, they maintained that these were "not meant to aid the take-off".
However, BJP's Dumka district chief Bipin Agarwal said as the pilot could not get a full view of the runway in the darkness, jeeps parked along the runway turned their headlights on to enable the aircraft to take off. According to reports 10 jeeps put their headlights on.
Jharkhand Civil Aviation Secretary P K Jajoria said he would look into the matter.
"Though it's a private aircraft, we will look into it," he said when asked whether it has violated civil aviation rules.
After addressing a public meeting in Godda yesterday, Singh drove to neighbouring Dumka to board the flight which took off at 5.55 pm -- an hour late behind schedule.
Sources close to Singh claimed that the flight was delayed 'by five minutes only' as it took off at 1745 hours instead of the "scheduled departure time of 1740 hours". They also claimed that Kolkata ATC had given clearance to the aircraft to take off.
Agarwal said former chief minister Arjun Munda, BJP's state unit president Raghuvar Das and party MP Nishikant Dubey had accompanied Singh in the aircraft.
Official sources said the BJP chief's aircraft was originally scheduled to leave by 1545 hours. However, the meeting, being held at Porrayiahat in nearby Godda district, about 55 kms from Dumka, continued beyond the scheduled time, causing the delay, they said.
They said as there was inadequate light at the airstrip and jeeps were pressed into service alongside to facilitate the take-off.
