Near miss: Two ATC officials punished

Kolkata: Two air traffic controllers have been sent off duty for a lapse that nearly caused a disaster in the skies around a month ago.
They had inadvertently guided two planes with nearly 250 passengers within striking distance of each other when the on-board traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) alerted the pilot and prevented an imminent crash.
The two planes — Alliance Air flight from Kolkata to Silchar and Air Deccan flight from Kolkata to Agartala — took off within five minutes of each other from NSCBI Airport on August 28 and were heading eastward when the warning beeps rang out. The two captains then spotted each other and swerved sharply to avert the collision.
The Alliance Air flight took off from Kolkata at 8.40 am. The ATC ordered the pilot to ascend to 13,000 feet. The pilot contacted the Dhaka ATC and found a slot available at 17,000 feet. The pilot then informed Kolkata ATC and got the latter’s clearance.
Meanwhile, ATC officials in Kolkata asked the Air Deccan flight that took off at 8.45 am, to ascend to 11,000 feet. The pilot contacted the Dhaka ATC and was told that he could take the empty slot at 15,000 feet. He got the go ahead from Kolkata as well.
That was the blunder. For, the Air Deccan Airbus 320 and the Alliance Air ATR have different speeds. The former travels at nearly twice the speed of the latter.
So, even as the ATR was climbing, the Airbus caught up with it at 13,000 feet. That’s when the TCAS began to buzz.
06/10/07 Arpit Basu/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Regional Oct 2007, Airports Oct 2007, NACL Oct 2007, Safety Oct 2007