Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 13 January 2023
A tweet from the official Twitter Handle of Port Blair Airport has been widely misunderstood and several news websites such as India Today, Business Today etc. have published news reports based on the misunderstood tweet.
On 13th January 2023 at 07:08 Am, Port Blair Airport from its official Twitter Handle Tweeted ‘Alliance Air pilot was detained for a few hours by the Indian Air Force after they found him taking photographs and videos of one of their stations. Portblair Airport advising all its users to be more cautious while taking photograph, as Portblair Airport is Navy Airfield.’
The first part of the tweet from Port Blair Airport’s official twitter handle was actually referring to an incident that took place in Rajasthan’s Uttarlai Air Force Station where an Alliance Air Pilot was held by IAF Authorities for clicking pictures at Airport’s Prohibited Area. The second Part of the Tweet was a warning as Port Blair Airport is also a defence cum civilian use Airport.
Commoners as well as Journalists misunderstood the tweet and very soon reports were published in many leading media outlets of the country suggesting that IAF had detained an Alliance Air Pilot at Port Blair Airport.
No Alliance Air Pilot was ever held at Port Blair Airport. In fact, Port Blair Airport was shut from 10th of January 2023 to 13th of January 2023 due to runway resurfacing work.
After the incident which took place in Rajasthan’s Uttarlai Air Force Station, Alliance Air also issued a statement and also de-rostered the pilot pending investigation.
IAF has also lodged a complaint with DGCA following the incident at Rajasthan’s Uttarlai Air Force Station.