IA, Jet planes in near-miss over Chennai

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11: The 150-odd passengers on board Indian Airlines flight IC-946 on the Hyderabad-Chennai route on December 1 were wo...

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NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 11: The 150-odd passengers on board Indian Airlines flight IC-946 on the Hyderabad-Chennai route on December 1 were wondering why the aircraft had suddenly dived and pulled up again. They remained in the dark about a near-miss their aircraft had with a Jet Airways plane.

Sources say the incident occurred when the IA flight was approaching Chennai for landing. Though the aircraft was given clearance to descend to 27,000 feet from a height of 33,000 feet by the Air Traffic Control (ATC), the Commander of the flight, Capt Jesudasan, was reportedly asked to maintain the same height until they flew past the Jet Airways plane. The two aircraft were separated by only 1000 feet.

Sources say even though there was a warning on the Traffic Collisions Advanced Warning System — that the two aircraft were flying close to each other — the Commander reportedly took the aircraft on a dive after taking over control from the autopilot. At a descent rate of 1000 feet per minute, the aircraft were heading for collision, when panic set in. The Commander then pulled up the joystick and the aircraft had a providential escape.

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Initially, though Jet Airways Commander N.K.Puri complained to the ATC tower at Chennai, the matter was reportedly “covered up” after the two commanders spoke to each other on their radio sets. Interestingly, Puri is a former I-A pilot. Capt Jesudasan is also a senior instructor/examiner with the IA.

A complaint was filed with R.N Singh, Director (flight safety), IA, on December 4, three days after the incident. The matter is now being investigated by Singh. He was out of station and not available for comments.