SpiceJet passengers ditching the...bus! Predator aircraft alert

It all looks seamless when one's on a bus headed to drop you off at a remote bay or a stand that doesn't have an aerobridge. The heavies are constantly either pushing back, or taxing in, firing up their engines getting ready to head out. In the middle of all this, other equipment like baggage carts, fuel trucks, and ground transportation all run in sync. It all runs smooth, as long as one simple rule is being followed: the aircraft comes first and all else follows after.

Procedures and process notwithstanding, 30 SpiceJet passengers at Jabalpur airport in India had a "close one" in a literal sense, late last week. Read on...

Screengrab from Times of India

The passengers, having just landed on a SpiceJet flight from Delhi and waiting in their bus, would have got the shock of their lives watching an Air Alliance ATR 72 aircraft that had also just landed in - interestingly, 15 minutes ahead of schedule! The aircraft was taxiing towards the gates, and apparently came really close to the bus...almost menacingly so. So much, that 30 passengers inside the bus ran out for their lives, assuming there might be a collission.

Check out this news report which also includes a rather grainy video of the incident, showing the passengers scurrying away from the bus.

From the video, it is clear that the aircraft didn't impact or even graze the bus, but this article suggests that it came close enough, for the waiting SpiceJet passengers to hit the panic button and jump off the bus, anticipating a collision! That said, I don't think we'll know what it feels like to be inside that bus at the time.

Air India has claimed that there was safe distance being maintained. Nonetheless, India's aviation regulator, the DGCA, has issued a warning to Air India because, apparently (and as it probably happens with Air India more regularly than they'd care to admit) the ATR-72 aircraft was marshalled not by trained personnel, but by a helper.

Jabalpur airport hasn't been the best host for SpiceJet. In December 2015, a SpiceJet aircraft collided with wild boars on the runway, and came to a halt, averting an accident. The airport was then closed for a few weeks/months, before it was allowed to reopen and recommence operations.