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. The controllers sat glued to the screens and barked instructions into the radio. Another chartered flight from Mumbai and was possibly heading for Hyderabad meant the controllers had to extremely careful. In the cockpits of the two planes, alarmed pilots sent SOSs to the controller.
The planes came so perilously close because the Kolkata controller spotted the Visakhapatnam-bound flight only after it entered Kolkata airspace. The Chennai-bound flight was already flying in Kolkata airspace and was instructed to descend to 35,000 feet. Both aircraft in Saturday's close shave were under radar coverage and belonged to the same private carrier.
Passengers on board the two flights were, however, unaware of the situation. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation will conduct a probe.
Narrow escape for 250 as 2 jets come close to collision
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Narrow escape for 250 as 2 jets come close to collision
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Narrow escape for 250 as 2 jets come close to collision
