26 times in 2018 planes came too close mid-air
Poor air traffic management reason behind near-misses ■
A total of 26 incidents of near-miss, when two aircraft come close to each other mid-air, were reported by Indian aircraft in 2018.
Investigations show that most such incidents happened because of poor air traffic controller planning and confusing signals.
The Director General of Civil Aviation has taken serious note of the near misses. A recent incident was reported in Kolkata when two IndiGo planes came too close for comfort before averting a mid-air collision on the border airspace of India and Bangladesh. In another incident in July 2018, over 330 passengers had a narrow escape after a mid-air collision involving two IndiGo aircraft was averted
near Kempegowda International Airport. The planes were just 200 m apart, vertically, and any collision could have been disastrous.
“A primary season for mid-air aircraft diversion is misjudgment by controller, inadvertent clearance issued by controller, loss of situational awareness by the controller and poor planning by the controller — all of which put
thousands of passengers’ lives at risk. However, aircraft now have an in-built anti-collision system,” said a senior DGCA officer.
A mid-air miss is when two aircraft are less than
1,000ft apart vertically or
5-25 nautical miles (30,000150,000ft) apart horizontally. The officer also spoke of steps taken to minimise such accidents. “All occurrences classified as serious incidents or accidents as per aircraft rules 2017 are investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and other incidents by the DGCA,” he said. “In order to minimise such incidents, the proficiency of the pilot and the air traffic controllers is regularly checked. The air traffic controlling labs are being modified to include conflict warning in the system which will help assist controllers. Whenever required, corrective training is given to pilots.”
That apart, controllers are given training on ATC simulators. “Airlines have been directed to avoid use of similar/confusing call signs, also a separate directorate of air space and air traffic management has been created in DGCA for better surveillance in traffic management.”