2000ft dive averts crash

Calcutta/Dibrugarh: Near miss on the Mumbai runway yesterday; near miss 17,000ft over Dibrugarh today.
A Calcutta-bound Air India flight with 50 on board came within two-and-a-half seconds of colliding with an Indian Air Force plane around noon as they hurtled towards each other at 1,100km an hour.
The Airbus A320 and the IL-76, the air force’s largest aircraft, were separated by just a mile horizontally and 300ft vertically, thanks to miscommunication between the civilian air traffic control at Dibrugarh and the IAF-controlled ATC at the nearest airport in Jorhat.
Yesterday, a similar confusion between the air force and Air India traffic controllers had allowed an IAF helicopter to land 30 metres from an Airbus A321 that was taxiing for take-off at Mumbai airport.
Like yesterday, it was the Air India pilot whose alertness averted a disaster today.
With the planes seconds from collision, the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) in both aircraft’s cockpits let off an alarm. Captain Jaideep Banerjee immediately pulled his A320 into a 2,000ft dive, saving the 43 passengers and seven-member crew.
An official at Mohanbari airport, Dibrugarh, admitted “some lack of co-ordination” between the Jorhat and Dibrugarh ATCs. “A staffer has been removed and an investigation is on,” he said without revealing the employee’s identity or position.
The A320 had taken off from Dibrugarh at 11.55am and was asked by the ATC to climb to 18,000 feet. Around the same time the IL-76 transport plane, named Gajaraj, was preparing to land in Dibrugarh. The Jorhat ATC told it to descend from its altitude of 27,000ft to 19,000ft.
“Dibrugarh was informed by the air force ATC about the IL-76’s flying height,” an Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said in Calcutta.
Had the two planes maintained their altitudes at 18,000 and 19,000 feet, there would have been no safety risk since aircraft are allowed to fly at an altitude difference of 1,000ft.
“However, the Jorhat ATC then asked the IL-76 to descend to 17,000ft and this caused the problem,” the AAI official said.
The A320 was yet to reach its assigned altitude and was still climbing. When the Airbus was at 17,300ft, the TCAS picked up the air force aircraft at 17,600ft, headed directly towards the passenger plane.
Capt Banerjee immediately shut down the auto-pilot mode and made a sharp descent of 2,000ft in less than 30 seconds.
He then contacted the Dibrugarh ATC and informed it about the incident. He was asked to stay at that level (about 15,000ft) for another six to seven minutes and then to climb to 38,000ft.
An AAI official said such miscommunication was common in the Northeast, which has several civilian and air force ATCs.
10/02/09 The Telegraph

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Categories: Air India Domestic Feb 2009, NACIL Feb 2009, Safety Feb 2009