HORRIFYING NEAR MISS BETWEEN PLANES OFF COAST

Heavy workload delays ATSB inquiry outcome

THE cause of a horrifying near miss between two passenger planes, which came within 180m of each other off the Gold Coast, won’t be released until May next year.

Crew of an ascending AirAsia X Airbus A330 were forced to take evasive action after coming dangerously close to a Jetstar A320 landing at Coolangatta last July.

The aircraft, which have a combined capacity of almost 600 people, came within 180m of each other vertically and 630m laterally, triggering alarms in both cockpits.

After gathering data from the incident, investigators will turn to the role of air traffic controllers, and the way crews responded to their instructions.

A report from the Australia Transport Safety Bureau was due to be finalised at the end of August, but has been “delayed by the involvement of the investigator in charge on other aviation safety investigations and tasks”.

It will now be released to those involved in February before a public release in May.

The AirAsia flight was departing Gold Coast for Auckland while the A320 was arriving from Avalon, Victoria.

The ATSB said weather conditions were clear at the time and flight crews of both aircraft had the other in sight.

An update from the ATSB said the flight crew of the AirAsia crew reported Jetstar’s A320 in sight and was instructed to pass behind that aircraft and climb before both crew received ”short-term conflict alerts”, which indicate the aircraft were, or were about to be, too close together.

“Separation reduced to about 600 ft vertically and 0.35 NM (630m) laterally,” the report says. “The required separation standard was 1000 ft and 3 NM (6km).

“The controller also received a short-term conflict alert.”

The ATSB said there was no collision risk as both crews smoothly completed the recommended advisory manoeuvres.

“The investigation is continuing and will focus on: in the context of a dynamic situation, the instructions provided by ATC and the response by the A330 flight crew; and the activation of the STCA and ATC surveillance data,” the Bureau said.

The ATSB has been stretched to the limit with a spate of incidents, including one over the Gold Coast in July, where AirAsiaX blamed birdstrike for an engine failure that led to an A330 diverting to Brisbane shortly after takeoff.