Sydney Morning Herald article 16/02/02.
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Qantas 747s swerved 38 seconds from disaster . .Date: 16/02/2002
By Scott MacLeod
Two Qantas jumbo jets carrying up to 800 people came within 38 seconds of colliding head-on early this month.
An air traffic controller is under investigation after the two Boeing 747-400s on the Auckland-Los Angeles route flew towards each other at the same altitude over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean on February 1.
An airline source said the jets were about one minute apart when collision-avoidance systems were activated.
One jumbo rose 500 feet and the other dipped 500 feet as the pilots responded.
An air traffic controller in French Polynesia is thought to have given permission for flight QF26 from Los Angeles to cruise at 33,000 feet - the same altitude as flight QF25 from Auckland.
A common policy for jets flying from Los Angeles to Auckland is to cruise at an "even number" altitude, such as 32,000 feet or 34,000 feet, to avoid oncoming aircraft.
The French Polynesian air navigation body, Service D'Etat De L'Aviation Civile, said records of the incident were being studied. Its chief of aerial navigation, Annie Coutin, said a controller had been stripped of the right to control certain aircraft movements unless supervised.
"For the moment we don't know yet how to explain what happened. All the possibilities have to be explored."
Qantas initially said it had no record of the close call, but a spokeswoman, Melissa Thomson, later confirmed that two aircraft were at the same altitude on February 1 while under French Polynesian control.
The airline said in a statement that the captains took "necessary action". The aircraft had not come closer than 17 kilometres to each other.