ISLAMABAD, Jul 27 (NNN-APP) – Two aircraft of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), flying on the same route and altitude, escaped a mid-air collision over Iranian territory on Sunday, officials said yesterday.
The unfortunate situation arose owing to the negligence of Iranian air traffic control, which cleared the planes for the same altitude, putting them in close proximity, Amanullah Qureshi, a senior official from PIA, said, adding that, a letter has been sent to the relevant Iranian authorities, seeking an investigation into the matter.
A PIA Boeing 777 from Islamabad to Dubai was maintaining a 35,000-foot altitude, when it came close to Peshawar-bound PIA Airbus A320 from Doha, PIA spokesperson, Abdullah Hafeez Khan, told local media.
The Airbus A320 was flying at an altitude of 36,000 feet, and was cleared to descend to 20,000 feet. The descent would have come in the flight path of the Boeing 777, the spokesman said.
However, the aircraft’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System corrected the course for both planes, and automatically guided them, averting a major mid-air tragedy, he added.– NNN-APP
