Planes nearly collide over Belgrade

An El Al Boeing 777 carrying 120 passengers nearly collided with an Air France jet over Belgrade, reports say.

Izvor: FoNet

Wednesday, 30.12.2009.

14:02

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An El Al Boeing 777 carrying 120 passengers nearly collided with an Air France jet over Belgrade, reports say. The Israeli carrier said that this came due to an air traffic control error. Planes nearly collide over Belgrade El Al claims that its plane descended from the cruising altitude to establish a safe distance from the Air France plane which was following incorrect instructions of an air traffic controller. The distance between the planes was 300 meters when the pilot changed the altitude, writes Israeli daily Haaretz. “The pilot acted appropriately for this type of situation," said Senior Vice President of Operations for El Al Lior Yavor. "The passengers, the crew or the plane were never in any danger.” The Civil Aviation Directorate of the Republic of Serbia said in a statement in Belgrade on Wednesday that a transgression of separation norms occurred in Serbia's air space between French aircraft A318 AFR286J, on route from Paris to Sofia, and Israeli plane Boeing 777, ELY007, on route from Tel Aviv to New York. After going over the audio and video recordings of the event, the Directorate concluded that the French plane crew did not honor the instructions given by the air traffic control and was the sole cause of the breaking of separation norms between the two aircraft, the statement said. The crew of the French plane even correctly repeated the given instructions to bring the plane down to 35,000 feet (10,650 meters), but for unknown reasons the plane continued its descent even after reaching the approved height, said the Directorate. "Only after the timely intervention of the radar flight controller did the French plane crew stop the plane's descent at 34,700 feet (10,559 meters), i.e. 300 feet lower than the approved level. At this point, the Israeli Boeing was 3.5 nautical miles away and flying at 34,000 feet (10,346 meters)," the statement concluded.

Planes nearly collide over Belgrade

El Al claims that its plane descended from the cruising altitude to establish a safe distance from the Air France plane which was following incorrect instructions of an air traffic controller.

The distance between the planes was 300 meters when the pilot changed the altitude, writes Israeli daily Haaretz.

“The pilot acted appropriately for this type of situation," said Senior Vice President of Operations for El Al Lior Yavor. "The passengers, the crew or the plane were never in any danger.”

The Civil Aviation Directorate of the Republic of Serbia said in a statement in Belgrade on Wednesday that a transgression of separation norms occurred in Serbia's air space between French aircraft A318 AFR286J, on route from Paris to Sofia, and Israeli plane Boeing 777, ELY007, on route from Tel Aviv to New York.

After going over the audio and video recordings of the event, the Directorate concluded that the French plane crew did not honor the instructions given by the air traffic control and was the sole cause of the breaking of separation norms between the two aircraft, the statement said.

The crew of the French plane even correctly repeated the given instructions to bring the plane down to 35,000 feet (10,650 meters), but for unknown reasons the plane continued its descent even after reaching the approved height, said the Directorate.

"Only after the timely intervention of the radar flight controller did the French plane crew stop the plane's descent at 34,700 feet (10,559 meters), i.e. 300 feet lower than the approved level. At this point, the Israeli Boeing was 3.5 nautical miles away and flying at 34,000 feet (10,346 meters)," the statement concluded.

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