NSW: Radar alerts not heard by near miss aircraft

AAP General News (Australia)
12-04-1998
NSW: Radar alerts not heard by near miss aircraft

SYDNEY, Dec 4 AAP - Two aircraft that missed colliding head-on near Newcastle by just 10
seconds did not hear vital radar and radio alerts, a report has found.

Initial investigations into the November 16 near-tragedy between the Qantas-owned passenger
plane and the RAAF jet found radar transmissions by air traffic control about the position of
each aircraft were not heard or were unreadable.

The Bureau of Air Safety preliminary report cited an instance where relevant information
intended for the RAAFs King Air craft was over-transmitted by another aircraft.

The King Air crew only heard the last few words of the transmission, and did not realise it
was relevant to their flight.

The air traffic controller had also attempted to give traffic information about the Eastern
Airlines Jetstream 31 to King Air, together with an instruction to maintain 6,000 feet.

This transmission was also over-transmitted.

The report found that whilst taxiing the crew of the Jetstream had made all stations
broadcasts on two frequencies, neither were heard by the crew of the other craft.

However, the report clarified that King Air had not selected those frequencies and were not
required to.

The report confirmed that the Qantas-owned plane carrying 19 passengers and a RAAF jet
carrying two crew passed each other with just 0.54 nautical miles horizontal separation and
600 feet vertical separation.

The investigation into the near-accident 10 kilometres south-west of Williamtown airport
was continuing, a Bureau spokesman said, adding that it would be finalised in the new year.

AAP jo/rap

KEYWORD: MISS

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