El Al, Air France jets nearly crash in midair
Now this is frightening.Israel's Channel 2 television reported on Tuesday that a New York-bound El Al passenger jet came within 300 meters of an Air France passenger jet over the skies of Belgrade (Serbia) on Monday night.
According to the report, the Serbian air controller made a mistake and instructed the Air France airplane to fly on a route already used by the El Al plane, so that the jets were on a collision course.Give the El Al pilot a medal. Wow.
The two planes were about to crash in midair, but emergency alarms alerted both pilots and the El-Al plane changed course at the last minute, when the distance between the aircraft was only 300 meters.
Serbian authorities reportedly claimed that the Serbian air controller was responsible for the incident and aviation authorities there launched an investigation into the near-accident.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:13 AM
3 Comments:
It shows that airplane safeguards work pretty well even in the event of human error. From the 1950s to 60s, plane collisions were a haphazard occurrence but they have been practically eliminated. Its still safer to fly a plane than to drive a car and one's odds of survival are a lot better.
Was Mohammed the air traffic controller in Serbia?
No, Moriah. Serbia would definitely not have an air controller named Mohammed. Maybe in Kosovo, but not in Serbia. Good grief!
Thank goodness, El Al pilots are generally former IAF pilots.
Post a Comment
<< Home