Probe launched after THY, SunExpress aircraft narrowly avoid collision
Authorities have launched an investigation after a potential mid-air collision between a Turkish Airlines (THY) and a SunExpress aircraft was narrowly averted over North Macedonia, a report said on Tuesday.
The THY Airbus A321-200 was flying from Madrid to Istanbul, while the SunExpress Boeing 737-800 was en route to London Gatwick from Dalaman. The incident occurred on Sept. 7, prompting an investigation by the North Macedonian Civil Aviation Authority, which classified the event as "serious."
The official probe will look into the incident to determine the cause and assess safety protocols, the Ihlas News Agency (IHA) reported.
The two aircraft came dangerously close while flying at 36,000 feet over the skies near Skopje. That triggered the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which issued warnings to both planes. The system instructed the SunExpress aircraft to climb, while the THY plane received instructions to descend to 34,000 feet. Both sets of pilots executed the necessary avoidance maneuvers before safely resuming their respective flights.
From KOHA website
North Macedonia's aviation authority has confirmed that it has launched an investigation into allegations that two passenger planes nearly collided over Skopje on September 7.
According to the flight tracking website "Flightradar24", the plane i "Turkish Airlines" and the Turkish-German plane "Sunexpress" almost collided in the sky over Skopje International Airport on September 7 at 18:32. The "Turkish Airlines" plane was going from Madrid to Istanbul while the "Sunexpress" plane was going from the Turkish coastal airport Dalaman to Gatwick airport in London. According to "Flightradar24", as reported by sdk.mk, 30 seconds before the two planes passed each other, they were flying at the same height of 11 thousand meters.
Just before they crossed, one plane climbed to an altitude of 11.081 meters and the other descended to an altitude of 10.812 meters. According to air traffic rules, airplanes must have at least 600 meters of vertical separation.
Flightradar24 is a global flight tracking service that provides real-time information on thousands of aircraft worldwide.
"It is unclear why the two planes were at the same height at the same time, namely whether it was an air traffic control instruction or a pilot error," Macedonian media reports said.