Kolkata: More than 250 people had a narrow escape as two aircraft came within sniffing distance of each other off the Andhra Pradesh coast. One aircraft was flying to Chennai from Kolkata while the other one was flying to Visakhapatnam from Mumbai via Hyderabad.
The two Boeing 737-800s came 5km of each other on Saturday, a fourth of the minimum stipulated distance that aircraft must maintain in the air as they came on converging paths 41,000 feet above the Bay of Bengal.
For six tense, nail-biting minutes the anti-collision warning systems in both aircraft activated and monitors at Kolkata airport's control room showed the two dots converging at a spot 340km from Kolkata at 11.55pm.
17/12/12 Times of India
