Jetliner "Dipped Like A Diver" To Avoid Collision
It was a close thing --
two Airbus aircraft (type unknown) plowing through the air over
Pakistan came within five seconds of colliding before one of them
dove with such force that the passengers in the back were left
bruised, shaken and in tears.
It happened Thursday over eastern Pakistan. An Air Blue flight
from Karachi to Lahore was flying along at 37,000 feet. At the same
time and approximately the same altitude, a Pakistani International
Airlines Airbus was on its way from Karachi to Islamabad.
What happened next is the subject of widely varying stories from
the two airlines. Air Blue commercial director Nasir Ali said his
company's flight, with 144 passengers on board, passed below the
PIA aircraft with a good 1,000 foot margin.
"No unusual maneuvers were performed by the Air Blue aircraft,"
he told the Associated Press. "There was no danger to any of the
passengers on the Air Blue aircraft at any time."
But PIA's flight ops director, Capt. Asif Raza, tells it
differently. He says the crew aboard the PIA aircraft carrying 179
passengers got a TCAS alert and had to initiate a steep dive of 700
feet to avoid the Air Blue plane.
"We were lucky that two senior and seasoned pilots were flying
the (PIA) aircraft," Raza told The Associated Press. "They had just
five seconds to get the aircraft away from that air corridor,
otherwise there could have been a mid-air collision."
Back in the cabin, women and children cried openly. Some recited
prayers, afraid they would die. One of them was the chief spokesman
for the Pakistani government, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid
Ahmed.
"Those few moments were very heavy for us, like we were going
(to die)," he told reporters. The Airbus nosed down "like a diver,"
he said.
"Women and children
began crying... Two, four passengers were slammed against the roof
because they had not fastened the seat belts," he said, adding that
doctors on board took care of the injured people.
One passenger reportedly banged his head on the drink cart and a
flight attendant broke her hand. Those were apparently the only
injuries sustained in the near-miss.
Pakistani ruler General Pervez Musharraf called Ahmed to make
sure his information minister was okay.
A Civil Aviation official told reporters a glance at the data
from both aircraft showed there was sufficient vertical separation.
He said the agency was trying to figure out why the crew of the PIA
aircraft initiated so severe a maneuver.