Timely action by the Mumbai Air Traffic Control avoided a major air disaster over the Indian Ocean at approximately 6 am on Friday, when two aircraft traveling on the same flight level narrowly missed a collision off the Karwar coast in Karnataka.
According to sources, over 500 passengers were traveling on board a Qatar Airways Boeing and a Condor Airlines Airbus, when the two aircraft were heading towards each other at a height of 35,000 feet.
The Qatar Airways flight 030 was flying from Doha to Melbourne, while Condor Airlines flight 356 was going to Frankfurt from Singapore.
On his system, the Condor Airlines pilot noticed another aircraft coming from the opposite direction, on the same flight level.
It was reported that the Condor flight had gone off the radar of the Mumbai ATC.
The Condor pilot alerted another aircraft in the sky, which in turn alerted the Mumbai ATC.
The ATC signaled the Qatar Airways plane to immediately descend by 3,000 feet thereby avoiding a possible air disaster.
The director general of civil cviation has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
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