Planes in 'near miss' at Vietnam airport

HANOI, July 15, 2014 (AFP) - Two planes nearly collided at an airport in central Vietnam after a young intern was left in charge of directing a busy runway, aviation authorities said.

An air traffic controller who left the trainee to supervise the runway at Danang on June 27 has been suspended and his aviation license has been revoked, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said.

"The incident seriously threatened aviation safety. If it had not been spotted in a timely manner, it would have led to an accident," a CAAV statement said.

The intern instructed a Jetstar Pacific plane to take off from the same runway where a Vietnam Airlines plane had just landed, according to state media.

The planes came within 350 metres of each other and it was only after the Vietnam Airlines pilot informed air traffic control that his plane was still on the runway that the intern realised the mistake, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

The intern will not be given an air traffic control licence for at least a year and will have to undergo further training.

Last month the crew of a plane carrying 200 passengers, operated by budget airline VietJet Air, were suspended after a flight bound for the Central Highlands tourist hub of Da Lat landed at another airport more than 100 kilometres away.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-07-15

Near hit. Or collision if you wish...

I wonder how the Thais (or Malaysians) would have handled a similar incident and reporting thereof.

Near hit. Or collision if you wish...

Although it seems to be a misnomer, the industry term is "near miss".

If I read this correctly the Intern cleared the JetStar Pacific aircraft to take-off while the Vietnam Airline aircraft was still on thr runway and there was a near miss ? Well I was a Flight Engineer in the USAF and I believe it is still standard procedures for the pilots to at least look down the runway before they start their take-off roll. Although there was a mistake in the tower it would appear there was a mistake on the part of the pilots who started their roll without making sure the runway was clear. Usually they tell you to line up on the end of the runway and wait for clearance after the other aircraft has left the runway.

They probably did see it and the report doesn't say they had actually started rolling, only that there was 350 meters between them at some point.

If I read this correctly the Intern cleared the JetStar Pacific aircraft to take-off while the Vietnam Airline aircraft was still on thr runway and there was a near miss ? Well I was a Flight Engineer in the USAF and I believe it is still standard procedures for the pilots to at least look down the runway before they start their take-off roll. Although there was a mistake in the tower it would appear there was a mistake on the part of the pilots who started their roll without making sure the runway was clear. Usually they tell you to line up on the end of the runway and wait for clearance after the other aircraft has left the runway.

Just because your pilots told you that they look out the windows, doesn't mean the actually did look out the windows. Bit of a bugger being a FE and have FA windows of your own.

Meanwhile in Barcelona

Just as well armchair travellers (and armchair pilots) don't know what really goes on up (and down) there, eh?