Sde Dov control tower nearly causes mid-air collision
According to a report by the Minister of Transportation and the Israeli Air Force, lack of supervision on the part of an administrator nearly led to a mid-air collision between an Arkia passenger jet and a Cessna 172 photography flight above Tel Aviv University.
In the report, which referenced a series of serious air traffic control incidents involving the Air Force control tower last September, noted that the Arkia flight that was returning from Eilat was instructed to fly directly in the same path as a photography flight from Aya Airlines over Tel Aviv University.
According to the report, the Cessna 172 pilot who received clearance to photograph from 1,200 feet Tel Aviv University was astonished to hear on his radio that an Embraer passenger jet was directed to lower its altitude and proceed on the same flight path to Sde Dov.
"The photography plane made radio contact with the tower and reported that the Arkia passenger plane was given the same heading," wrote the accident report investigator. "In response, the control tower directed the photography plane to descend to 800 feet and three seconds later, the Arkia pilot notified the tower that he was in direct eye contact with the Cessna."
During the investigation, it was discovered that the automatic system to prevent midair collisions was activated on the passenger jet due to the two aircraft being within 450 meters of one another.
"This could have caused a huge disaster with hundreds of casualties," said Nati Peretz, former CEO of Aya Airlines. "I am proud of Dotan Siti, a company pilot who was aware of the situation, even though he was flying according to guidelines. He realized that a disaster was imminent and immediately informed the control tower of the mistake and lowered his altitude so the Arkia flight wouldn't hit him."
As a result of the negligence in the control tower, the Air Force is also conducting an investigation. The investigation has thus revealed that a lack of supervision on the part of an instructor led to air-traffic controller making mistakes. "Despite a low volume of traffic in the tower, the incident still occurred," Raz stated in his report, noting that the Air Force has taken steps to minimize similar training incidents in the future.
