NEW DELHI: An alert Vistara pilot-in-command saved two aircraft - one which she had just landed and the other about to take off - with 322 people on board from potentially colliding at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday morning.

Captain Sonu Gill had landed the Vistara UK926 from Ahmedabad on runway 29L, closest to the Shivji statue, and air traffic control gave her continuous taxi to Terminal 3 by crossing the parallel active runway 29R.

However, an air traffic controller (ATCO) "momentarily forgot" the craft was taxiing and cleared the Vistara UK726 for takeoff from runway 29R.By the time Gill heard the ATC transmission clearing UK726 to take off for Bagdogra from runway 29R, she was at the holding point of 29R.

She stopped there despite having received a continuous taxi clearance and informed ATC about the error in the clearances given to the two aircraft.

The planes were less than 2km away from each other at this point.

ATC urgently asked the pilots of the Bagdogra-bound flight to abort its takeoff.Thanks to Gill's alertness, the two Vistara Airbus A320s stopped at a safe distance from each other - one on the runway and the other at the holding point of the same.

The pilots of the Bagdogra flight took the aircraft back to the terminal for refuelling and maintenance checks after braking at high speed.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has put the ATCO off the duty roster for the lapse and has initiated a probe into the incident.

A senior DGVA official reiterated, "A Vistara Airbus A320 operating flight UK926 (Ahmedabad-Delhi) was involved in a runway incursion at Delhi airport on Wednesday.

It landed on runway 29L and was instructed by the tower controller to cross runway 29R.

Momentarily, the tower controller forgot this crossing and issued the takeoff clearance to another Vistara flight UK725 (Delhi-Bagdogra) from runway 29R.

On realisation of this error based on input from UK926, tower controller instructed UK725 to cancel takeoff."Captain Gill, 45, whose situational awareness is being credited for saving the day, is a very senior captain with Vistara.

"She has been refusing to accept any congratulations for what she did on Wednesday because she says she was just doing her job.

She maintains a very low profile and does not have any digital presence," revealed fellow Airbus A320 pilots.The DGCA report on the incident is also awaited for another reason - for recommendations on the safe use of the two parallel runways at India's busiest airport where air traffic congestion is again back despite IGIA having four airstrips.

Since human error can never be ruled out, there must be checks to minimise the same and devise procedures for the safe handling of aircraft movement.IGIA started using its newest runway, 29R-11L, for takeoffs alone from July 14.

Accordingly, the parallel 29L-11R is currently only used for landings.

Aircraft taxiing to T3 after landing on 29L or coming to this runway from T3 to take off necessitates crossing the newest runway 29R.

While two runways operational on this side of the airport are expected to make aircraft movement a lot faster both in the air and on the ground, it will require absolute precision in handling, with no room for errors such as the one witnessed on Wednesday.These two runways are the first set of adjacent parallel runways at Delhi airport.

The third parallel runway is some distance away, separated as it is by the Northern Access Road.WatchTimely action by Vistara pilots saves hundreds of lives at Delhi Airport