Kolkata: The plane was headed from Muscat to Dhaka, flying through the Kolkata airspace. Captain Ariful Islam of Bangladesh’s United Airway saw another aircraft flying towards him.
When he was about 270 miles from the Bangladesh capital and flying at 33,000 feet, he was told by the Kolkata Air Traffic Control to descend to 29,000 feet. As he started to do so, his warning system, TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System), went off and alerted him about a flight approaching him at 32,000 feet. There were 148 passengers on his plane.
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Captain Islam says the sky was clear, there were no clouds and he “got a visual” of the approaching flight – believed to be Saudi Airlines cargo plane. He immediately alerted the Kolkata Air Traffic Control and ascended to 33,000 feet again.
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“There had been some mistake,” Captain Islam said. “All conversation is recorded and can be checked.” Normally, there has to be a height difference of at least 1,000 feet between airplanes. Details of the Saudi Airlines flight are still not clear. It was possibly a cargo flight 983 from Hong Kong to Jeddah. This is, however yet to be confirmed.Â
Captain Ariful says he will file a report on the issue with his airlines on Tuesday. Â
The Kolkata Traffic Air Control refused to comment on the matter though National Airports Authority is believed to have ordered an enquiry.