Close call over Arabian Sea: Qatar Airways, EL AL planes come within 1 minute of each other

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is investigating a serious incident of “airprox” or aircraft proximity — flights coming closer than the mandated minimum separation while airborne —in which two wide-body aircraft belonging to Qatar Airways and Israel’s EL AL were involved. The incident occurred on March 24 at 35,000 feet over the Arabian Sea and the two aircraft came as close as 9.1 nautical miles, or around one minute of each other, even as the regulation separation for the area was 10 minutes. The AAIB has released a preliminary report with details of the incident and the investigation process. The final investigation report is likely to be released within a couple of months, per sources in the know. Airprox is a situation in which the distance between aircraft as well as their relative positions and speed have been such that the safety of the aircraft involved may have been compromised. It is not clear yet whether the aircraft involved in this incident were on a collision course. Airprox incidents are classified into three categories—serious risk of collision, safety of the aircraft may have been compromised, and no risk of collision. Although both the aircraft were not headed to or from India, the AAIB is conducting the investigation as the area where the incident occurred falls under the Mumbai Flight Information Regions (FIR) where air traffic services are managed by the Mumbai air traffic control (ATC). While the probe is underway, two air traffic controllers on duty at the time of the incident were off-rostered as per the protocol in such cases and sent for corrective training, per sources.<br/>