Confidence is critical for aviation industry success and building it takes years of sustained attention to safety. Public trust may vanish quickly, as the US aviation sector is discovering after a recent series of crashes and worrying near misses.
So, it is essential that Hong Kong fully investigates an incident where two cargo planes flew close enough to trigger a collision alert.
The Civil Aviation Department said air traffic control staff may have failed to follow take-off protocols as the jets set out from Hong Kong International Airport.
A department spokesman said controllers instructed one of the planes to climb to 5,000 feet and the other to 3,000 feet to maintain separation.
The climb rates of the planes, however, did not match what air traffic staff had expected and they failed to achieve the “desired vertical separation”.
On-board traffic collision avoidance systems alerted pilots who adjusted altitudes before safely continuing on their way, but the department is “highly concerned” about possible non-compliance with established procedures.
Staff involved have been temporarily removed from frontline duty.
