The closest shave in years happened when a dreadful tragedy was averted thanks to the presence of mind displayed by a lady pilot. On 7 February, a Vistara flight and an Air India flight missed a mid-air collision by mere seconds in Mumbai’s skies.
According to a Mid-Day report, the Vistara flight, UK 997, was on its way from Delhi to Pune, while the Air India flight AI 631 was flying from Mumbai to Bhopal. The Vistara airbus descended to a height of 27,100 feet, while the Air India flight was maintaining a height of 27,000 feet. Thus, the separation between the two aircrafts was only 100 feet, while the lateral separation between them was 2.8 km.
Air India’s Captain Anupama Kohli – with 20 years of experience – who was monitoring the situation, saw the Vistara aircraft heading in the direction of the AI flight. She could also hear the conversation between the Air Traffic Control and the Vistara pilot, which indicated miscommunication.
As the Vistara plane closed in on her level, the red sign lit up instantly in the cockpit, followed by a resolution advisory (RA), that said ‘climb, climb, climb’, Times of India reported. Captain Kohli climbed right away and steered the plane away from the Vistara flight.
As per TOI, the Vistara flight was being flown by a lady co-pilot in the absence of the male commander who, in clear violation of the rules, had taken a toilet break.
The Vistara pilots have been grounded by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), reported Mid-Day. The airlines, however, have claimed that the ATC had asked UK 997 to be at 27,000 feet.
The safety of our customers and staff is of paramount importance to us and at Vistara we diligently follow all the safety regulations and guidelines. In this particular incident, the resolution advisory (RA) got triggered due to conflicting traffic. Our pilot followed the SOP (standard operating procedure) to avoid it and carried out an uneventful landing. The matter is under investigation by relevant authorities.Spokesperson for Vistara
According to the TOI report, a senior official from Air India said:
This was indeed a very close call. Our crew was acting just as it should have. There must have been some serious confusion between air traffic control and Vistara pilots that led to this.
The minimum vertical distance between aircrafts must be 1,000 feet, reported Mid-Day. It was only the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) fitted in modern aircrafts that helped the Vistara and Air India flights take corrective action in the nick of time.
According to a Times Now report, this is the second time such an incident has occurred in Maharashtra skies in the last 15 days. On 28 January, IndiGo and Emirates aircrafts breached the minimum distance limit over Nagpur.
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