Mumbai: Two aircraft carrying a total of 850 passengers ended up on the same flight level on Thursday morning, sparking a mid-air collision scare. However, the flights, one operated by Etihad Airlines and the other by Ethiopian Airlines, managed to get away from each other's path in the nick of time.
Top officials in the Airports Authority of India (AAI) blamed poor coordination between the air traffic controllers in Mumbai and Chennai for the incident.
The Etihad Airlines flight 413 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi, while the Ethiopian Airlines flight 685 was travelling from Shanghai to Addis-Ababa. The flights did not have a stopover in India and were merely flying through the Indian airspace. The Mumbai ATC was coordinating with the Etihad flight, while the Chennai ATC was in touch with Ethiopian Airlines pilot.
The Mumbai ATC officer concerned has said in his report that he was severely fatigued and also the flight traffic was high, which resulted in "an error of judgement". AAI officials, however, said that it was a major lapse as the two planes came dangerously close to each other.
The incident took place around 5.45 am on Thursday. AAI officials said that the Mumbai and Chennai air traffic controllers failed to coordinate as the two planes crossed each other's airspace.
Read news in full 24/05/14 Bipin Kumar Singh/Mumbai Mirror
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