AAP
Virgin plane in second 'near miss'
December 24, 2003
THE crew of a Virgin Blue passenger plane activated a collision avoidance system as they approached Launceston this afternoon when a light aircraft was detected nearby.
The Virgin Boeing 737 flight, en route from Sydney, was north of Launceston when the incident occurred about 1.35pm (AEDT), Airservices Australia (ASA) spokesman Richard Dudley said.
He said the Boeing 737's collision avoidance system was activated and the pilot took avoidance action during the incident.
The matter will be investigated by ASA's safety personnel and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Mr Dudley said.
It is believed the other aircraft was a four-seater single-engine plane, however this could not be confirmed by ASA.
Virgin Blue spokeswoman Amanda Bolger said no one was in any danger during the incident.
She said the Virgin plane's crew activated a proximity alert after they became aware of the other plane, carried out a level change and landed as normal.
Ms Bolger could not confirm how many people were on board the Boeing 737 which can carry up to 144 passengers.
She said the airline did not want to speculate about the cause of the incident until investigations were concluded.
"Last time certain organisations made wild speculative statements and they turned out to be false," she said.
"We're certainly confident that our crew responded appropriately to the proximity alert."
Civil Air president Ted Lang blamed the incident on new federal air traffic control rules.
The National Airspace System, which came into effect late last month, allows light planes into areas used by commercial airliners.
Mr Lang called on federal Transport Minister John Anderson to consider an alternative plan which keeps light planes out of the flight path of commercial planes.
This latest incident comes less than a month after another controversy concerning a Virgin passenger plane and a Cessna in Melbourne.
Civil Air claimed at the time that the two aircraft had a near-miss when collision avoidance measures were activated.
However, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report released last week found the planes did not come close to having a near miss.
AAP
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