A Qantas 767 was involved in a near miss with a Virgin Blue 767 over Melbourne's northern outskirts on Sunday.
The required minimum distance between the aircraft was breached as the two aircraft ascended on similar flight paths above Gisborne. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the serious incident'. The two aircraft took off one after the other from Brisbane airport, during the climb the two aircraft breached the minimum safe gap as they came within 1.9 nautical miles (3500 metres) and 300 feet (less than 100 metres) of one another. The minimum safe distance is three nautical miles (5500 metres) or 1000 feet (300 metres) apart.
Qantas and Virgin Blue have stated that their pilots obeyed all air traffic control instructions and both were aware of where the other aircraft was.