Jet Airways ATR and IAF Jaguar have narrow miss

Barely three months after a near-miss incident over Rajkot involving an Indian Air Force (IAF) jet and a civilian aircraft, another near-miss occurred last week when a Jet Airways ATR 72-500 came within about two nautical miles—around five seconds away—off a Jaguar strike aircraft. According to sources, on January 4, the Jet Airways' Rajkot-Mumbai flight (9W 3410), which was carrying about 50 passengers, was about 102 nautical miles from Mumbai when the Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS) in its cockpit set off an alarm. "The ATR was cruising at 15,000 feet when all of a sudden its pilots saw a Jaguar approaching it at a 30-degree angle, and there was this alarm in the cockpit. They (the Jet plane and the Jaguar) were five seconds away from collision when the Jaguar climbed and averted a disaster," said the source. "If the Jaguar had not climbed and the TCAS warning system had instructed the Jet pilots to climb, then a crash would have surely occurred, as an ATR craft cannot gain altitude that fast," said the source.

The TCAS warning system indicated that the Jaguar strike aircraft was about two nautical miles (2.3 miles) from the Jet aircraft. A Jet Airways' spokesperson confirmed the incident. Despite a similar incident last year, no lessons seem to have been learnt as IAF aircraft continue to fly dangerously close to civilian aircraft, an aviation expert said. In September last year, a Jet Airways' Mumbai-Rajkot flight (9W 345), carrying 89 passengers, came within 500 feet of a Sukhoi fighter while landing at the Rajkot airport. The near-miss was attributed to communication failure. This time, though, Jet Airways has ruled out a communication failure. Immediately after the incident, the Jet pilot informed the Mumbai Air Traffic Control about it. "There were two Jaguar strike aircraft and both were supposed to be at 16,500 feet. While one came down to 16,300 feet, the other descended to 15,000 feet, the altitude at which the Jet aircraft was flying," said a source. M G Junghare, general manager, aerodrome, said, "The Jaguar pilots did not inform us before descending to the altitude of the Jet Airways' aircraft. We don't know what happened, as our area control radar could not track the Jaguars."

A senior official of the Indian Air Force, Delhi, refuted claims that they were at fault. "The IAF has carried out a detailed investigation of the January 4 incident, which has revealed that procedures were correctly followed by the IAF fighter formation. There were no lapses on the part of the IAF," he said. There were no answers from the IAF on whether the Jaguar pilots informed the Mumbai ATC before descending to 15,000 feet. Jet officials have said that they were not intimated of any air exercise programme on that particular day. A joint investigation into the incident has commenced and a report is awaited. In the past one year, instances of near-misses have risen manifold due to an increase in the number of flights. In 2005, there were 21 near-misses, while in 2004, there were only 15, and in 2003 it was 13. Sources said there have been instances in which Indian Air Force aircraft have flown into the airspace surrounding smaller airfields without giving prior information about their flights.

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