SOMALILAND- In East Africa, a Qatar Airways (QR) flight narrowly averted a collision with an Ethiopian Airlines (ET) flight. The Somaliland Civil Aviation and Airports Authority issued a statement outlining the incident.
Qatar Airways Flight 6U (QR1383), cruising at a stable altitude of 38,000 feet, received inaccurate instructions from air traffic controllers in Mogadishu to ascend to 40,000 feet. Concurrently, Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET602, following the same route at 39,000 feet, posed a potential collision hazard.
Qatar Ethiopian Avoids Collision
The statement clarified, “At approximately 12:32 pm in East Africa today, Qatar Airways flight (Qatar 6U) arriving from the Valley to Entebbe and maintaining a constant altitude (38000ft) was erroneously instructed by controllers in Mogadishu to climb to 40,000 feet. Both flights were in the air simultaneously, with Qatar Airways facing Ethiopian Airlines flight number (Ethiopia 602) en route from Addis to Dubai.”
Fortunately, the TCAS (Traffic Avoidance Collision System) device installed on the aircraft promptly issued a critical warning, alerting to the presence of the other plane. Despite the perilously close proximity of the planes, the equipment on both aircraft successfully averted a collision.
As of now, Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines have not released statements addressing the incident.
Similar Incident
This occurrence follows a previous incident several months ago involving American Airlines (AA) flight AAL28 and Tradewind Aviation flight GPD235, narrowly avoiding a collision.
On November 10, both aircraft were directed to land at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport simultaneously. The American Airlines Airbus A321, completing its journey from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), received instructions to approach runway 22 left, while the Tradewind Aviation Pilatus PC-12 was directed to runway 22 right.
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