German charter carrier Condor takes action when 767 flies close to Thomas Cook Airlines 757 over North Atlantic
German charter airline Condor has suspended two pilots after an airprox incident in which one of its Boeing 767-300ERs breached minimum oceanic separation from a Boeing 757-200 operated by UK sister carrier Thomas Cook Airlines over the North Atlantic.
Investigators from Germany, Canada and the UK are conducting a probe into the 24 June incident after the Condor 767 approached the 757 on a parallel course, closing to within 1nm (1.85km) horizontally and around 600ft (180m) vertically.
Condor flight DE5062, with 244 people on board, was on the Frankfurt-Halifax transatlantic route at flight level 320 (32,000ft/9,760m), when it encountered the 757 at around 37°W longitude – within Canada’s Gander Oceanic flight information region. The 757 had 194 people on board and was operating as flight TCX32K between London Gatwick and Toronto, cruising at FL330.
Condor says the 767 flew on a parallel track to the 757, with 1nm horizontal separation, and climbed to FL324, bringing it to within 600ft vertically of the Thomas Cook aircraft.
This prompted a collision-avoidance alert, says the airline, to which the crews “immediately” reacted. The Condor 767 descended, while the 757 climbed to FL370.
While the reason behind the incident has yet to become clear, there are suggestions that the Condor 767 crew had misidentified the Thomas Cook jet for a second Condor 767 that had been 100nm ahead. Thomas Cook Airlines and Condor are sister airlines as both are part of German leisure giant Thomas Cook, and therefore have similar colour schemes, which could explain a misidentification. However, a number of the Condor aircraft are yet to be repainted and wear the old yellow and white scheme.
“The Condor aircraft deviated from its permitted route and altitude, and this led to a [breach] of the minimum [separation] distance,” says Condor. Parallel tracks on the North Atlantic are normally separated by 60nm laterally while a vertical separation minimum of 1,000ft applies to adjacent flight levels.
“Both crews followed [automatic collision-avoidance advisories] immediately and minimum separation distance was established promptly following the warning. There was never a concrete risk of a collision.”
Both pilots of the Condor aircraft have since been suspended. The crew of the Thomas Cook aircraft, which reported the airspace infringement to the UK Civil Aviation Authority, has been exonerated from any involvement in the event.
“We filed an airprox report to the UK CAA and had an internal investigation. Our pilot has been cleared,” says Thomas Cook Airlines, adding that the crew carried out a “textbook” evasive manoeuvre upon being alerted to the Condor 767’s presence and that there was no information about the reason for the close approach.
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW/LONDON
Source: Flight International
