Colombo, June 16 (DailyMirror) – An official report on the possible mid-air collision avoided by UL 504 has been filed by the crew upon their return to the BIA yesterday which has confirmed that due to the vigilance and action taken by the crew, they had managed to avert one of the worst mid-air collisions.
Sri Lankan Airlines however seem to be unaware of this report filed by its own crew and have released a statement saying UL 504 was not at risk of a mid-air collision with another aircraft at any point, despite their official document confirming it. Sri Lankan Airlines clearly seem to be misleading the public at this point or simply are unaware of the official mandatory documents filed by their own staff.
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While it is confirmed that the vigilance and quick decision-making by the pilot and crew avoided this mid-air collision, Sri Lankan Airlines failed to answer the calls by Daily Mirror last evening when we attempted to re-confirm the story.
It is the document that the Daily Mirror later came in possession of that divulged the exact details.
The report clearly mentions that there was a British Airways flight above at 35,000 feet in the Turkish Airspace and the UL504 crew observed an ATC conversation between BA AIR and Ankara Control regarding a possible intermittent transponder failure on BA AIR.
In the crew’s own words, “Due to the vigilance and the action taken by the crew on UL504, managed to avert one of the worst mid-air collisions.”
The UL pilot and crew who had been vigilant had detected a British Airways flight just 15 miles away from them flying at 35,000 feet and informed the air traffic control at Ankara that there was a flight already above.
The British Airways flight which was on its way to Dubai and then Singapore had left Heathrow just shortly after the UL flight had taken off.
If the UL captain had climbed to the requested height, the UL flight would have faced a mid-on collision with the British Airways flight, as it was flying at a faster speed than the UL flight. Upon landing at the BIA the passengers safely disembarked from the flight along with the crew and a report on the incident was filed. (Jamila Husain)
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