Mumbai: A mid-air disaster was averted in the Mumbai air space when aVistara aircraft came perilously close to an Air India plane, prompting theAircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) to launch a probe.

On February 7, the Vistara’s UK 997 Pune-bound aircraft from Delhi,carrying 152 passengers, was just 100 feet away from the Air India’s AI 631flight for Bhopal which had 109 passengers on board.

The AI flight captain has written in her resolution advisory report thatthe aircraft was just 100 feet away when it was taken to a safer distance.

The collision was averted after an automatic warning alerted the pilots ofthe two planes of being in close proximity to each other, an official said.

The commander of the Air India flight acted swiftly on the instrumentwarning and steered the aircraft to a safer distance, a senior official ofthe airline said.

The two pilots of the Vistara flight have been grounded, pendinginvestigation, while the Air India pilots have been cleared for flying bythe AAIB for not being at fault, the official added.

Vistara confirmed the incident and said both its pilots have been taken offflying duty, pending investigation. “In this particular incident, theresolution advisory (by the Traffic Collision Avoidance System or TCAS) gottriggered due to conflicting traffic. Our pilot followed the standardoperating procedure to avoid it and carried out an uneventful landing. Thematter is under investigation by the relevant authority,” a spokesperson ofthe Vistara said.

TCAS is an on-board equipment that advises pilots regarding the traffic inthe proximity of the aircraft and also prescribes what action a pilot cantake to maintain the desired separation between the aircraft.

“The Air India aircraft was going as per the ATC instructions. There was noconfusion. But it seems that something had gone wrong between the Vistarapilot and the ATC as the Vistara aircraft kept descending while the ATC wasgiving different instructions. There was some kind of an argument betweenthem,” the Air India official said.

“The Vistara aircraft continued descending. So, finally, when our pilot sawthe warning (the Vistara aircraft breaching the mandatory separation) onboard, she just took the corrective action and turned the aircraft from thecollision point,” the airline said.

The Air India pilot’s action was perfect as she followed the resolutionadvisory and steered the aircraft to a safer distance, it added.

“The AAIB has cleared our pilot for flying,” the Air India official said,while lauding her timely action. “It was a close shave,” he said. – PTI