The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has suspended two air traffic controllers for carelessness involving an almost missed mid-air collision between an Air India and Nepal Airlines aircraft.
The incident occurred last week when an Air India A320 and Nepal Airlines A319 had a vertical separation of 4,000 feet and the AI flight was given a go-ahead to descend forcing the Nepal Airlines plane to rapidly descend to avoid a collision.
Nepal Airlines flight landed safely at around 8.48 in Kathmandu while Air India flight entered a holding pattern and landed at 08.58
More details of the incident are yet to be revealed and likely will in the coming days as CAAN investigates air traffic control and the commands given by controllers and undertaken by the pilots. The question raised during investigation was why the Air India aircraft was descending at the exact location where another Nepal Airlines flight was cruising.
CAAN recently grounded the entire fleet of Shree Airlines after an engine fire warning on one of its ATR 72s forced the flight to return to Kathmandu.