Two passenger jets narrowly escape mid-air crash

KARACHI: Two passenger planes narrowly escaped a mid-air collision in the Karachi airspace, ARY News reported on Saturday.

Sources relayed a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft and a foreign airliner came very close to each other but their pilots’ mental alertness averted the impending crash, saving hundreds of lives on board both jets.

The PIA flight en route from Islamabad to Karachi was at an altitude of 40,000 feet while the foreign airliner on a transit route at a 35,000 feet altitude. The two planes were less than five miles apart, the sources said.

Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System (TACACS) got activated in the PIA Boeing-777 alerting its pilot about the other plane being in close proximity to it. He then descended to 4, 000 feet in no time to avoid a crash.

The source said the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) took note of the near-miss and dismissed the on-duty air traffic controller for being remiss.