Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has written a letter to Air India regarding an incident in which an Air India aircraft descended to 15,000ft without taking permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC).
The level bust occurred last Friday when the aircraft, en route to Kathmandu from New Delhi, suddenly descended to 15,000ft from an altitude of 19,000ft before landing at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), according to CAAN.
A level bust, which is also known as altitude deviation, occurs when an aircraft fails to fly at the level for which it has been cleared by the air traffic controllers. According to Eurocontrol, level bust is any unauthorized vertical deviation of more than 300 feet from an ATC flight clearance.
The CAAN has also formed a probe panel to investigate the incident, and the ATC personnel on duty at the time have been temporarily relieved of their duties. The incident could have resulted in a fatal accident, as a Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) aircraft flying at the same altitude was forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Jagannath Niraula, the spokesperson for CAAN, told RSS news agency that the pilot’s actions have been brought to the attention of Air India and that the airline will be investigated as a result of the incident.
