Pilot contacted ATC over Kadas

new delhi: the pilot of the chartered plane that crashed on the outskirts of mainpuri on sunday was in contact with the air traffic control in kanpur minutes before it attempted an emergency landing. soon after changing over to a new frequency, which resulted in disconnection of link with atc, lucknow, the pilot had communicated with the atc at the chakeri airbase near kanpur."the change-over in frequency may have taken place over a point called kadas on the flight route," said an official of the atc, delhi. the pilot was in contact with the atc, delhi, up to a distance of 250 km from the indira gandhi international airport. as per the normal flight plan, the plane should have taken a left turn from kadas towards kanpur. kadas is a point on the flight route which guides planes leaving delhi and travelling in the direction of aligarh. "this may have been the last point from where the pilot spoke to the atc, lucknow," the official said. a plane moving towards the eastern sector from delhi usually takes a route of delhi-benaras-kolkata. a plane flying over the height of 20,000 feet may not contact the atc of a local airspace. "the ill-fated plane's pilot spoke last to the atc, delhi, a little before kadas. after this, he may have informed the atc, lucknow, about its change in direction. this may have been the pilot's last communication with the atc, lucknow," said an official.