Somalia probes near collision between Ethiopian and Qatar Airways flights

NT Bureau

Doha: Somalian Civil Aviation and Airports Authority is investigating a near collision between an Ethiopian A350 and a Qatar Airways 787 while flying over the Gulf of Aden near Somalia, after ATC wrongly told one aircraft to climb to 40,000 feet, Air Live has reported.

As per a Somaliland Civil Aviation and Airports Authority report, it was a close call for Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner cruising at 38,000 feet altitude on 24 February 2024, the report says.

Pilots received instructions from ATC to climb to 40,000 feet altitude while flying in the Mogadishu FIR from Doha to Entebbe on flight QR1383.

The Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 was facing an Ethiopian Airlines A350-900 (ET602) which was flying from Addis Ababa to Dubai.

The TCAS (Traffic Avoidance Collision System) device in the plane gave an urgent warning and told the presence of the other plane.

The Qatar Airways didn’t follow the ATC instructions and avoided a possible disaster with Ethiopian Airlines aircraft from Addis Ababa to Dubai, the Air Live report says.