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Aseem
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 Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 3:52 am Post subject: Mystery plane gives jitters to international airliners near |
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Mystery plane gives jitters to international airliners near Mumbai
| Quote: | NEW DELHI: India's dangerous western neighbourhood that is kept under aerial surveillance by military planes of global superpowers gave the jitters to some international commercial flights flying over the Arabian Sea about 450 to 480km from Mumbai's coastline early on Saturday morning.
An Etihad aircraft winging its way from Abu Dhabi to the Far East had its traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) alarm going off loudly in the cockpit at 6.54am (IST), indicating that another aircraft had got dangerously close to it by breaching the minimum 1,000 feet of vertical separation that has to be maintained for safety.
Some other international airlines flying near Mumbai on Saturday morning also reportedly had their TCAS buzzing. The warning came when the aircraft — not originating from or destined for Mumbai — were on aerial route P-574 between the reporting points Bodik and Adpap over the Arabian Sea and flying at 36,500 feet, said sources.
"The indication Etihad aircraft got was of an unidentified plane flying just 500 feet below it. It immediately reported this to the Mumbai air traffic control (ATC), which had no such plane on its radar nor had any information of another aircraft being supposed to be so close below the Etihad flight," said a senior official.
Luckily for Etihad and other airliners which had their collision alarms ringing, said sources, the breach of vertical separation (500 feet) was not serious enough to lead to the triggering off of their "resolutionary advisory" in which an automatic message is generated for pilots to immediately change course to avoid collision.
The Mumbai ATC have reported the matter to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), which is now investigating this case as the credentials of the unidentified plane are unlikely to be ever known.
However, sources said the unidentified plane could have belonged to the US Air Force, and it was not on any civil or military radar. The US uses the Diego Garcia islands in the south Indian Ocean as its air force base for keeping an eye on India's troubled western neighborhood. Reconnaissance missions and military exercises are mounted from these islands, they said.
"Military and government planes on sensitive or classified missions like reconnaissance do not file their flight plans with ATCs of the regions they will be flying over. Such planes fly with 'due regard' to civil air traffic using visual flight rules, which basically mean they just see and fly," said sources. But breaches of the 'minimum distance for vertical separation' in areas swarming with such aircraft can be a hazard for commercial traffic.
Since the warning came from planes flying at 36,500 feet, chances are the unidentified aircraft was on a reconnaissance flight as fighter jets don't fly that high.
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Mystery plane gives jitters to international airliners near
What do you make of this?
VT-ASJ
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The_Goat
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Joined: 03 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 12:00 pm Post subject: Re: Mystery plane gives jitters to international airliners n |
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| Aseem wrote: | Mystery plane gives jitters to international airliners near Mumbai
What do you make of this?
VT-ASJ |
It could have also been an IAF or an Indian Navy surveillance plane.
The worrying thing is that these military aircraft are mostly out of the jurisdiction of civil aviation laws and rules. Given that up to 25 % of all aviation is actually military, it could be a disaster waiting to happen.
I hope the military authorities everywhere co-ordinate their movements better with the civilian ones.
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HAWK21M
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:37 am Post subject: |
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Most likely some military Aircraft from IAF or the USA.
They would have TCAS too......but they need to adhere to a route too......to avoid such a scenario.....
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The_Goat
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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| HAWK21M wrote: | Most likely some military Aircraft from IAF or the USA.
They would have TCAS too...... |
I believe that some of the older USAF models like the KC-135 don't have TCAS. Not sure, though.
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I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
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ssbmat
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Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 1710
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:41 pm Post subject: Re: Mystery plane gives jitters to international airliners n |
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| The_Goat wrote: | | Aseem wrote: | Mystery plane gives jitters to international airliners near Mumbai
What do you make of this?
VT-ASJ |
It could have also been an IAF or an Indian Navy surveillance plane.
The worrying thing is that these military aircraft are mostly out of the jurisdiction of civil aviation laws and rules. Given that up to 25 % of all aviation is actually military, it could be a disaster waiting to happen.
I hope the military authorities everywhere co-ordinate their movements better with the civilian ones. |
Perhaps the Etihad flight computer was spooked by the powerful vibrations of the INA's TU-142 Maritime Bear as it passed close by  |
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