By SCOTT MacLEOD
An air traffic controller is being investigated after two jumbo jets on the Auckland-Los Angeles route flew at each other head-on over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean and came within a minute of a collision.
The two Qantas Boeing 747-400 aircraft, which can each carry up to 400 people, were flying in opposite directions between Los Angeles and Auckland on February 1. At 1 am New Zealand time, they approached head-on at the same altitude.
An airline source said they were about one minute apart when their collision-avoidance systems kicked in, averting what could have been the world's worst air crash.
One of the aircraft rose 500ft and the other dipped 500ft as pilots responded to warnings from their computers.
An air traffic controller in French Polynesia is thought to have given permission for flight QF26 from Los Angeles to cruise at 33,000ft - the same altitude as flight QF25 from Auckland.
A common policy for jets flying from Los Angeles to Auckland is to cruise at an "even" altitude, such as 32,000ft or 34,000ft, to miss oncoming aircraft.
The body in charge of air navigation in French Polynesia, Service d'Etat de l'Aviation Civile, said investigators were studying records of the incident.
The service's chief of aerial navigation, Annie Coutin, said one controller had been stripped of the right to control certain aircraft movements unless supervised by a senior controller.
"For the moment we don't know yet how to explain what happened," Ms Coutin said.
Qantas initially said it had no record of the incident, but spokeswoman Melissa Thomson later said two aircraft were at the same altitude on February 1 while under French Polynesian control.
The airline said that the aircraft were fitted with anti-collision software and that the captains took "necessary action".
The aircraft did not come within 17km of each other while at the same altitude.
But at an estimated closing speed of 1600 km/h, the aircraft would cover that distance in 38s.
Rules for air traffic controllers show that aircraft in that area should be at least 92km apart if flying at the same altitude.
The Herald spoke to two jumbo-jet pilots who fly the Auckland-Los Angeles route. Neither would allow himself or his airline to be named.
One said he would never ask to fly at a non-standard altitude. Some pilots did so, to conserve fuel, but it made flying more risky.
The other pilot described the situation as "terribly dangerous".
Altitudes were becoming a grey area as more sophisticated computers were used to navigate in airspace that was becoming crowded.
"Altitudes are worked out by computers, and there's aircraft all over the bloody place now," he said.
"I feel we're putting too much faith in computers. How do we know this stuff is actually working?"
Jumbo jets come close to disaster over Pacific
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