An Airbus A320 of Air France – PASCAL PAVANI / AFP

The disaster has been narrowly avoided. Two aircraft, a cargo of the company EgyptAir, and a device d’ Air France, with 123 people on board, have failed to collide with the January 1, above Belgium, according to several sources.

The Bureau of investigation and analysis (BEA) for the safety of civil aviation reported on its website of a “serious incident” between an Airbus A300 operated by Egyptair and an A320 operated by Air France, on the 1st of January in the late morning.

The two devices is only 1.3 km away

The cargo plane, which acted as a liaison Ostend-Cairo, was in the climb phase to reach the altitude to 21,000 feet (6.4 km), while the flight from Paris-Charles de Gaulle-Amsterdam was established in the cruise at an altitude of 22,000 feet (6.7 km), according to the information provided by the AAIU (Air Accident Investigation Unit), the counterpart of the belgian BEA, seized of the investigation.

The aircraft of EgyptAir has exceeded the distance prescribed between both devices that is approximately 1,000 feet (about 300 m) and is found approximately 300 feet (approximately 100 meters) below the Air France plane, according to the first elements of the investigation.

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the horizontal, the planes were separated by 0.74 nautical miles long, or 1.3 miles, the necessary distance to be observed between two aircraft flying in the cruise at the same altitude as 5,000 nautical miles (9.2 km).

When the two devices were crossed over to Ghent, “they were a mile away, or 10 seconds of flight, and 90 meters of altitude gap” according to Jean Serrat, a former driver on the BFMTV.

radar edge triggered

Air France has confirmed the facts, stating that his aircraft was established on its trajectory in accordance with the permissions received by the air traffic control “.

” Warned of the reduction of the minimum spacing prescribed between the 2 devices by the radar onboard (TCAS), the crew of the Air France plane was immediately reacted in accordance with the procedures of the manufacturer and the company ” in taking the altitude, shows the company in a press release.

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The system TCAS is activated aboard the two aircraft, says the BEA. This system traffic alert and collision avoidance has issued an alert of type “LVL RA” (Level resolution advisory) board of the egyptian aircraft indicating that it penetrated into the volume of protection to another device, but it “has continued to rise,” says the investigators, according to the statement released by the BEA.

The system TCAS of the Air France has displayed the three letters CLB (climb : climb), giving the order to mount.

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