Two passenger planes narrowly escaped a midair collision due to the alleged negligence of air traffic controllers at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.
The pilots demonstrated their skills at the right time to avoid a midair smash as they were preparing to land at the airport.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) took notice of the incident and launched an inquiry. A CAA spokesman said no staff will be spared if negligence proved.
Both the airplanes were in landing process simultaneously from opposite directions on the runways of the airport, which could have led them to crash into each other. Sources said “The pilots of the planes acted wisely and avoided the imminent collision”.
Note that all airplanes are equipped with a technology called the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) that automatically guides them by communicating with the other plane’s TCAS.
A similar incident occurred on 26 July when two Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) airplanes closely avoided a midair crash while flying on the same air route and altitude over Iranian territory near UAE airspace.
The incident was caused by the purported negligence of the Iranian Air Traffic Controller (ATC) which had cleared the same altitude for both the airplanes, positioning them in close proximity to each other.
One of them, a Boeing 777, was flying from Islamabad to Dubai, while the other, an Airbus A320, was headed from Doha to Peshawar, as per the sources. When they were found to be dangerously close to each other, one was instructed to ascend and the other was told to descend in accordance with the standard practice.
