Mid-air collision averted, day after narrow miss in Mumbai

A potential mid-air disaster was averted on Tuesday when an Air India Airbus on a
flight from Dibrugarh to Kolkata with 43 passengers on board and an IAF plane came dangerously close to each other over Jorhat airspace, a day after a civilian plane narrowly missed colliding with president's helicopter in Mumbai.

The Air India flight -- IC-206-- came dangerously close to an IAF plane when it was coming from Dibrugarh in Assam to Kolkata at around 1.30 pm, sources said in New Delhi. The IAF plane was believed to be a transport aircraft.

The AI plane later landed safely at Kolkata, they said. An Air India spokesman said in Kolkata that the Airbus pilot after finding the IAF aircraft in the vicinity alerted Dibrugarh Air Traffic Control (ATC) and descended to a lower height.

"Like any responsible pilot, our pilot descended the Airbus to be on the safe side and landed safely at the NSC Bose International Airport," he said.

The spokesman however maintained that the two aircraft were not on the same flight path and there was no possibility of a collision.

The incident occurred a little after the Airbus took off from Dibrugarh at 11.55 am. It landed at the NSC Bose International Airport at 1.20 pm, he said.

According to preliminary reports, the mid-air scare happened when the two airplanes were at an altitude of between 17,000 and 18,000 feet.