항공종사자 영어구술시험

	Another Case of Mid-Air Collision

	2006/10/20

	Accident investigators are trying to find answers to big questions surrounding the fatal mid-air collision between a corporate jet and a passenger aircraft over Brazil last September 29, 2006. The accident caused the death of 154 occupants onboard the passenger jet – comprising of 148 passengers and six crew members. The corporate jet landed safely on a military base with damaged wing and horizontal stabilizer but with all the occupants unhurt. Both airplanes are new; the Embraer Legacy 600 was on a delivery flight to its new owner while the Boeing 737-800 has just joined the Gol Linhas Aéreas fleet in no more than a month. Being one of the new generation aircraft, both are equipped with ACAS (Air Collision Avoidance System) Surprisingly, there was no indication that either flight crew of the two aircraft reacted to any ACAS RA (resolution Advisory) if there was any. Either one of the two accident aircraft could have saved the day had there been any RA coupled with appropriate reaction of either aircraft’s flight crew. Both the 737 and the Legacy were apparently travelling along airway UZ6, which connects Brasilia and Manaus; the 737 was heading southeast to Brasilia at flight level 370 (37,000 feet), the Legacy travelling northwest towards Manaus. Brazil implemented reduced vertical separation minima last year and, under this scheme, FL370 on the UZ6 airway is allocated to eastbound traffic; westbound traffic is normally assigned the adjacent levels FL360 or FL380. The pilots of the Legacy are insisting that they were cleared at FL 370 by air traffic controllers. Early reports say that radio contact with the two aircraft was lost minutes before the collision. 자료제공: flight international megazine