New Delhi: A total of 13 incidents of near
air-miss were reported in the country this year but none was
"critical" as the aircraft were equipped with collision
avoidance systems and the pilots and air traffic controllers
showed alertness, Government said on Tuesday.
In reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Civil Aviation
Minister Praful Patel said that all the incidents of "air-
proximity" were being investigated as per the laid down
procedure (by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation).
In an incident of air-proximity, two aircraft breach
either their vertical or horizontal separation limits while
flying. It is also commonly known as near air-miss.
In order to avoid any disaster, modern aircraft comes
with the Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS) which
alerts the pilot if the plane breaches its separation limits.
Patel denied that such incidents were due to shortage of
air traffic management services.
"There is no shortage of air traffic management services
including air traffic control (ATC), communication, navigation
and surveillance to deal with air safety," Patel said.
To prevent occurrence of such incidents, he said, the
DGCA has issued civil aviation requirement guidelines making
it mandatory to install Airborne Collision Avoidance System
(ACAS) in planes.
PTI
