AirAsia - Indigo mid air collision avoided

On April 16th 2017 at 1:35 PM IST (08:05:00 UTC)
The incident took place over a town Mau, located in Uttar Pradesh in Varanasi airspace. 





IndiGo            - Airbus A320 - VT-IEW - 6E 398 - Delhi > Bagdogra
AirAsia India - Airbus A320 - VT-JRT - I5 768 - Bagdogra > Delhi

As both flights came near waypoint BODOG which is on airway Q18, AirAsia India flight which was cruising at altitude of FL360 (36,000ft) descends down to FL320 (32,000ft) at 08:05:29 UTC at speed of 458 KTS crossing the path of Bagdogra bound IndiGo flight which was cruising at FL330 (33,000ft) at speed of 463 KTS. 

While the air traffic control (ATC) Varanasi - had cleared the AirAsia India to descend to FL340 (34,000ft) and maintain it, however AirAsia flight continue to descend to FL320 which caused near miss with TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) alerts. 

As a result, the aircraft went close to 33,000 feet flying level, where the IndiGo aircraft was operating. The two planes, approaching each other's direction, were less than nine kilometres apart and just 15 seconds away from a collision

A collision preventive measure has been taken by IndiGo pilots, flight 6E 398 took immediate right turn at 08:05:09 UTC to avoid collision with this incoming AirAsia flight. 

Here are some screenshots of the aircraft tracking data which was collected by flightradar24's local ADS-B ground receivers: 





Following screenshots are extracted from the raw flight data provided by flightradar24.com




The Airway Q18 on which this incident took place is a international airway which is been frequently used by flights operating from Europe To Asian cities such as Singapore, HongKong & China.


A team of Aircraft Accident Investigation Board officials, headed by senior officer Jitender Loura, is probing the near miss. The captain of AirAsia India flight is learnt to have been grounded pending the outcome of the probe as per Times Of India news article.

Replay of the flight can be seen here : Click Here

Also Read : TWO INDIGO A320 NEAR-MISS OVER BANGLADESH

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