Two Indigo planes come close, mid-air collision averted

Two passenger planes operated by Indigo had a close shave over Bengaluru airspace on July 10.

In a press statement, the airline said the TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system) resolution advisory system was triggered when two of their aircraft operating on the Coimbatore-Hyderabad and Bengaluru-Kochi routes came within 7.4 km of each other.

While 6E 779 (Coimbatore-Hyderabad) was directed by the Air Traffic Controller to climb to 36,000 ft., 6E 6505 (Bengaluru-Kochi) was directed to 28,000 ft.

They are believed to have come ‘close’ when they were just 200 ft. vertical distance from each other. Considering their speed, a mid-air collision was just a matter of seconds away.

“Following the normal procedure, this has been reported to the regulator,” said the company in the statement.