An interim report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has found that a collision avoidance system failed to activate on a Qantas A330 flying from Perth to Sydney that went too close to another Qantas aircraft travelling from Sydney to Perth.
The collision avoidance system on the Perth-Sydney plane activated, but the report concluded the same system did not activate on the other Airbus. The report found an air traffic controller should not have given permission for one aircraft to move from 38,000 feet to 40,000 feet, which would have put it in the path of the Sydney-bound plane travelling at 39,000 feet.
Martin Dolan from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the controller was alerted by an alarm about 25 seconds later. "Any complex system like an air traffic control system has a range of dimensions to it," he said.
"There are a range of people making decisions, and because these people are human beings occasionally they won't get it right." Both aircraft landed safely at their intended destinations.