Safety pledge as airline denies midair near-miss
GULF Air yesterday insisted that no passengers were in danger after one of its aircraft came within 800 vertical feet of another plane during a flight to Mumbai.
GF064, with 180 people on board, was travelling towards the Indian city when the pilot was warned by an on board Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) about the proximity of an "intruding" Saudi Airlines plane.
It happened around 100 nautical miles west of Mumbai on Thursday and meant the distance between the aircraft was 200ft less than the specified industry guidelines.
"The Saudi aircraft had climbed 200 feet without permission from the Air Traffic Control (ATC)," said an airport official quoted on the Indian Express newspaper website.
"The pilot of the Gulf Air aircraft had spotted another aircraft climbing into its airspace on his warning system."
The Saudi Airlines flight, with 377 passengers on board, was flying over Mumbai to Riyadh from Dhaka.
However, ATC officials intervened and asked the pilot to maintain its altitude.
"Earlier we could not have spotted the aircraft exceeding its altitude as the radars were analogue, but now we have digital radars that can trace the exact height of the aircraft," the official said in the report.
A Gulf Air spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the incident, but played down safety fears.
"We can confirm that GF064 en route from Bahrain to Mumbai on Thursday, November 19 received an alert from the on board TCAS to climb to ensure it was within the regulation 1,000ft vertical separation minima from another aircraft," she said.
"This is standard procedure and at no point was either aircraft or its passengers in any danger."
Source:
GDN