Three Planes Involved in ‘Near Miss’ at Melbourne Airport

In Australia, a frightening near miss between three planes at MEL has sparked safety concerns and an on-going investigation.

Mobile phone footage of a near miss between three planes at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport (MEL) last year emerged early this week, prompting an investigation by Australia’s Transport Safety Bureau.

The incident took place on the night of July 5, 2015 and involved two Qantas flights, QF449 and QF819, as well as a third aircraft, Emirates Flight UAE 405.

The two Qantas planes had to abort their landings in order to avoid collision with the Emirates craft, which was preparing to make a delayed departure from MEL at the same time.

Both Qantas pilots were forced to perform a “double go around” maneuver that involved quickly pulling up their aircraft to avoid collision. One of the planes was also given permission to fly near the terminal at an unsafe altitude.

The video footage of the incident, taken by a passenger onboard one of the Qantas planes, shows another plane suddenly approaching from the left before disappearing from sight as the craft pulls up to avoid a collision.

South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon commented on the incident to news.com.au, saying, “This was a near miss.” The planes were less than one nautical mile apart.

Senator Xenophon also said he had been approached by both pilots and traffic controllers who were concerned about safety procedures at MEL. It has emerged that at the time of this incident, the control tower at the airport was manned by a training instructor and a tower coordinator, as well as trainee controller on their fourth shift.

There is also concern over the twin intersecting runways at the airport, an unusual layout which, some feel, might have been a factor in this near miss.

While the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating this incident, a Qantas spokesperson said,

“The pilots of both aircraft responded quickly and followed standard procedure for a missed approach, landing safely shortly afterwards. There was no loss of separation, meaning that all aircraft involved maintained their minimum distance from each other at all times. Qantas is comfortable with the land and hold short procedure at Melbourne Airport, which is used by all domestic airlines at Tullamarine without incident every day.”

[Photo: The lights of a plane can be seen approaching from the left before disappearing from view under the other plane’s wing via news.com.au]