Sir — Air is considered to be one of the safest modes of travel. At the same time flights are also accident-prone, usually during take-off or landing. Earlier, mid-air collisions between two or more planes were a rare possibility. But not anymore considering the increased incidence of ‘near misses’ or ‘loss of separation’ between planes mid air across the world, including India.
Recently, two planes of the same airliner reportedly came within striking distance of each other over Bengaluru’s airspace.
The flights were apart 200 feet vertically which means more than 300 passengers escaped death. The minimal vertical separation between two planes is stipulated to be 1,000 feet or 300 miles.
Horizontal difference between two flights should be 15 nautical miles if they are in the same path or five nautical miles otherwise.
Incidentally, it should be recalled that one nautical mile is equivalent to 1,852 metres. The near misses which are ‘unplanned contacts’ have decreased in India over the years due to technological advancement. The Traffic Collision Avoidance System or Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) was established in the late 1990s.
laxity among the staff of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and pilot fatigue are two of the most important reasons attributed to near misses over Indian skies. Instructions given by the ATC to the pilots like ‘ascend’ or ‘descend’ may be mistaken by pilots of one or both the planes. Clarity is needed to keep skies safe for flying.