Case of two planes almost crashing into each other: air traffic controller prosecuted

The incident of a flight from Hanoi to Da Lat and another flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa almost clashing, in recent days has caused confusion in public opinion. After receiving the information, Vietnam Flight Management Corporation suspended the two controllers involved

Information from Vietnam Flight Management Corporation (VATM), this unit has received a preliminary report from Southern Flight Management Company about the incident of 2 flights being warned of short-term conflicts (STCA). And immediately decided to establish an internal investigation and verification team headed by the Head of the Quality Safety Department to clarify the cause of the incident," the VATM representative informed and said that the investigation team is in the process of performing duties at Southern Flight Management Company.

When there are official results, the functional department will officially announce them according to regulations.

VATM said it always considers safe and effective flight operations for all flights as its top goal. The unit's leaders always advocate continuously improving capacity and ensuring flight service quality.

VATM is currently responsible for providing services to ensure flight operations in the entire sovereign airspace of Vietnam's territory and territorial waters and at all airports and airfields across the country.

Talking to Thanh Nien, Mr. Dinh Viet Thang, Director of the Aviation Department, said that the incident is currently in the process of investigation and verification. However, this is not a dangerous aviation incident. The initial preliminary reason may be due to confusion because the signals of the two flights are similar. At the time of the incident, the two planes were still very far apart. The ATM system has only just detected a warning signal of danger.

"According to ICAO's assessment, in air traffic situations where air traffic controllers and pilots are in complete control and initiative, they are not considered serious incidents that threaten or threaten flight safety," Mr. Thang said. and said that, according to ICAO's recent assessment, the rating of Vietnam's air traffic control is very high, up to 96.87 points on a 100-point scale.

According to the initial report of the Ho Chi Minh Long Distance Control Center, there was an air traffic incident between a flight from Hanoi to Da Lat and another flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa, on the morning of June 19 in Ho Chi Minh ACC airspace. Bright.

Accordingly, at about 6:30 a.m., air traffic controllers issued a clearance for aircraft HVN1557 on the journey from Hanoi to Da Lat to descend to flight level 300 and then a clearance to flight level 340, the aircraft confirmed.

At the same time, around 6:31 a.m., aircraft VJC244 from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa established contact with subdivision 1, reporting that it was flying directly, maintaining flight level 330. Air traffic controllers identified the plane. and request to maintain flight level 330, aircraft confirmed.

However, at nearly 6:35 a.m., the ATM screen appeared a STCA warning (short-term conflict warning). Immediately, air traffic controllers hurriedly issued clearance orders to HVN1575 to maintain flight level 340 and turn left due to traffic reasons. Air traffic controllers issued a clearance for the plane from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa to turn right in flight direction 040o. The aircraft from Ho Chi Minh City to Thanh Hoa announced a TCAS RA warning (aircraft collision warning system designed to reduce accidents caused by mid-air collisions between aircraft).

Assessing the initial incident, both aircraft, when establishing contact with air traffic controllers of division 1 - Ho Chi Minh ACC, were identified and provided radar services. The total number of flights that air traffic controllers controlled in division 1 at that time was 12 aircraft.

According to the air traffic management unit, when two aircraft fly over each other, the altitude difference between the two aircraft is 900 FT.

Initial assessment is that this is an incident in the category of violation of minimum separation standards between aircraft and "alarm to avoid collisions in the air". The incident must be reported according to the aviation safety reporting regulations of the Vietnam Aviation Administration.

The management unit said the crew held a lecture immediately after the shift about the above incident. Southern Flight Management Company also organized a lecture to learn from the above situation for the entire Ho Chi Minh ACC air traffic controller force.

At the same time, there is no arrangement on shift or on-duty flight operations crew including the on-duty crew chief, the executive controller (EC) and co-ordinate duty controller (PLC), and the supervisory controller to serve the investigation. problem.