A New Delhi-bound Air India Airbus 321 with 170 passengers and 10 crewmembers on board narrowly escaped colliding with a helicopter that was part of Indian President Pratibha Patil's fleet. The Feb. 9 near miss occurred as Flight 866 was about to take off from Mumbai’s airport. Patil was inside one of the three choppers.

'I was just preparing to take off, suddenly this chopper came right in front of the aircraft and I applied the emergency brakes,' Air India Captain A.S. Kohli.

Officials with the regulatory authority, which has ordered a special probe into the incident, offered a slightly different version on the incident, saying the air traffic controllers were 'aware' of the helicopters’ movement.

“ATC Mumbai was aware of the presidential visit and were watching the approach movement of the presidential convoy of helicopters,” the directorate said in a statement.
“At that time, an aircraft of Air India was on Runway 27. The ATC, noticing the movement of the aircraft on the runway, asked the aircraft to immediately apply brakes and exit through the taxiway. The aircraft exited immediately and the helicopters landed safely,”

Air India spokesman Jitendra Bhargava said the A320 pilot sighted the army choppers at a distance of around 100 feet. “He (the pilot) applied emergency brakes and aborted the takeoff.” He said the sudden application of brakes damaged the aircraft's tires.

The aviation regulator has appointed its Joint Director A.K. Chopra to probe the incident, officials in the civil aviation ministry in New Delhi said.

No one on the four aircraft is reported to have been injured.