The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has launched an investigation into an incident involving two passenger aircraft after one that had just departed from Hobart Airport was forced to deviate from its course to “avoid conflict”.
The ATSB say the recent ‘loss of separation assurance’ incident involved two ERJ 190-100 jets, both owned and operated by Alliance Airlines in QantasLink liveries, off the New South Wales coast at around 3:40pm on August 20.
One of the aircraft involved, VH-UZI, was flying from Hobart to Brisbane at an altitude of 35,000 feet at the time of the incident, while the other, VH-XVS, was on a flight from Brisbane to Canberra and climbing to 36,000 feet.
According to the ATSB, air traffic control instructed VH-UZI to “turn immediately to avoid conflict” with VH-XVS, which was on a reciprocal flight path in the opposite direction.
VH-XVS was then instructed to descend immediately.
Flight tracking data from both aircraft at the time of the incident shows a vertical separation of around 400 feet.
Airservices Australia say loss of separation occurrences (LOS) happen when two aircraft fail to maintain a minimum distance from each other.
“A LOS does not mean that the aircraft were at any risk of colliding, or that the incident was a ‘near miss’, it simply means that separation standards were not maintained,” the Airservices website reads.
The ATSB is currently in the process of gathering evidence from the air traffic controller and flight crews, reviewing air traffic surveillance data and collecting other relevant evidence.
They have announced that a final report will be released at the conclusion of the investigation.
“Should a critical safety issue be identified during the course of the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify the relevant parties, so that appropriate safety action can be taken,” the ATSB said.
