A Cathay Pacific 777 and Dragonair A330 aircraft came within a mile of each other near Hong Kong last week. The collision avoidance systems on both aircraft issued alerts and the pilots took evasive action to maintain a safe distance from each other.
Cathay said in a statement: “There was no risk of collision and at no time was the safety of the flights compromised. At the closest, they were one nautical mile (2,000 meters) apart when abeam from each other with increasing vertical separation.”
At the time of the incident, several aircraft, including Dragonair, were in a weather-related holding pattern about 40 miles southwest of Hong Kong International Airport, according to a statement from Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department. As the Cathay jet approached the holding area, its pilots told air traffic control the 777 had “only 10 minutes’ holding fuel” remaining. Another Cathay plane offered to switch landing slots with the 777 and controllers issued directions to both the 777 and the Dragonair A330 as they tried to rearrange the pattern, the aviation department said. During that time, both the Cathay and Dragonair jets failed to respond to an air traffic control command, the department said. The collision avoidance systems were activated after those instructions were missed and the planes went below minimum separation distances, the report said.