It has emerged that an Emirates Boeing 777 & Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX nearly suffered a mid-air collision in the Horn of Africa.
Such an incident is the second to happen in recent months, when a Qatar Airways 787 and Ethiopian Airlines A350 nearly did the same thing.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
The Emirates & Ethiopian Flights…
The two flights involved in the incident over the Horn of Africa was Emirates flight EK722 and Ethiopian Airlines flight ET690.
EK722 was bound for Dubai from Nairobi and ET690 was bound for Bangalore from Addis Ababa.
This incident took place on March 24, only a few days ago.
Furthermore, it is understood that both flights landed in their respective destinations.
EK722 landed safely into Dubai at 0444 local time that day.
ET690 also landed safely into Bangalore at 0734 local time.
Both aircraft were at FL370 when the incident occurred, with the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX climbing above the Emirates Boeing 777.
Somaliland CAA Issues Statement…
In a statement, the Somaliland Civil Aviation Authority said the following:
“On the night of Sunday, March 24, 2024, around 12:43, Emirates flight UAE722 flying at an altitude of 37,000ft, and an Ethiopian Airlines flight ETH690 at an altitude of 37,000ft almost collided.”
“A few minutes before the collision, the efforts made by the Somaliland Air Traffic Controllers and the pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines caused the pilot to quickly change his altitude and climb to 39000ft,”
Questions continue to get asked over the competency of air traffic controllers. in the region following this second incident.
Overall…
Looking ahead, all eyes will now turn to the investigation at hand to see why this happened.
Growing concern continues in the Somaliland FIR, as a pattern is beginning to emerge over these close calls.
All eyes will be on the steps that the CAA will take to ensure that this doesn’t happen for a third time.
Ultimately, if not fixed, it will only be a matter of time before the close calls become actual accidents.
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