● 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
● The UL pilot and crew had detected a British Airways flight just 15 miles away from them flying at 35,000 feet
● The Pilot had detected the BA flight on the flight’s radar
● Ankara air traffic control had informed the UL Captain that they had not detected any flight at 35,000 feet
UL 504, flying from London to Colombo landed at the BIA last afternoon, avoiding its biggest possible mid-air collision with a British Airways flight while in Turkish airspace, the Daily Mirror learns. Sources familiar with the incident said that the flight carrying 275 passengers on board and a crew, had entered the Turkish Airspace of Ankara after leaving Heathrow en route to Colombo when Ankara air control informed the UL pilot to climb to 35,000 feet from the 33,000 feet they were flying at.
● 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,
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.
After checking, the Ankara air traffic control had informed the UL Captain that they had not detected any flight at 35,000 feet on their radar and the UL flight was cleared to climb. The pilot who by that time had detected the British
Airways flight on the flight’s radar had not climbed and informed the Ankara air traffic control once again to check. It was only minutes later that the air traffic had responded urgently informing the UL flight not to climb as there was already a flight right above at 35,000 feet.
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 but a report on the incident was filed.
The lives of 275 passengers on UL
504, its crew members, and the lives of passengers on the British Airways flight and its crew members were saved due to the vigilance and strong decision-making of the Chief Pilot of UL 504.
Bravo UL Captain 👏👏👏 well done
A HERO of t best kind. T news item should have mentioned t pilots name!
This is a joke !! 🤭 Is the fact that while driving your car, putting on your signals to turn and looking into the lane before you turn such a big deal that you have to tell the whole world about it ??🤯
This Pilot used a safety system called TCAS – in use since 1989 , like all pilots have done since then, for the exact purpose it was installed on aircraft!! The fact that this particular Pilot made such a BIG issue to highlight this routine procedure, even sending the confidential reports filed, to the newspapers proves that he is a complete & absolute T – ASS !!
You are an absolute mahadenamutta only. 😒😤
Learn to appreciate even a small thing.
In our eyes he’s a real hero. Hats off to you pilot. 👏🏻👏🏻😊😊❤️❤️
This is inspirational gossip! This is the duty and is very common feature using TCAS. That it was a miscalculation in Turkish airspace and was rectified is a job done and is normality. The rest is speculation ….. Reporting to authorities and keeping vigilance is the duty of the officers
Thanks to TCAS and the vigilance of the Pilot save 200+ lives! Well done to the pilot.
Be happy that a huge number of lives were saved. Yes the Chief Pilot is bound to report this incident. That’s the procedure.
The CP and the team should be applauded just like when a batsman scores a hundred or a soccer player scores goal even though that is what is expected expected of them anyway. Yes it will be nice e to know their names
Looks like this publicity crazy pilots are trying hard to get their names published in the papers via proxies like PakisB and Chanaka Abeysinghe who do not seem to know anything about how Aviation is so error proofed these days with all the automated warnings !!!
Kudos to the vigilant pilot & team.. can we have the names pls?
Riding a Plane and a car a very different and cannot be compared. There are standard safety procedures against many of the mishaps that could occur to a passenger aircraft. But the most important thing is is the Human Factor, which has been handled perfectly by the Pilot and the crew. My congratulations. Word to the “experts “ – if you have a driving license, just keep driving, don’t try piloting.
What if you have both, leslie ??
You can have enough safety systems installed. But human error can over ride the warnings. I think the pilots should be congratulated for their alertness.
Very true. Pilots have used their common sense and should be co granulated.
Congratulations captain and crew. Don’t give a rats …..ss for what these nepotist say .we appreciate you and we salute you.
Shirantha – pls check the definition of nepotism before you use the word next time 🙈
Congratulations to the pilot of UL504!!! Bravo!!! Saving the lives passengers and crew. Certainly appreciate that brave decision and not risk the lives. Mahadenamutta and rest of the golayas, please learn to respect and appreciate what others do, instead of acting as typical Mahadenamutta. Some people talk big. Wonder they have a driver’s license though. This pilot deserves a medal from mother Lanka for this Heroic deed. All the vet best to the pilot!!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Kamalika, hussein , leslie and the rest of the crew – looks like you don’t understand that this Pilot was just doing his job, following the procedures which he is trained & drilled into on a simulator and then on real aircraft, for at least 7 to 10 years, before he becomes a Captain ?? By your own theories, every Captain should be named & praised everytime he takes an aircraft through bad weather,severe turbulence or engine failure, as he has just saved the lives of 200+ passengers !!! True, the crew are mandated to report such occurances – NOT to newspapers with copies of their report, but ONLY to the Civil Aviation Authorities !! There are lots of Captains in Sri Lankan Airlines who saved their aircraft & passengers from many worse situations, but never reported them to newspapers !!!
Well said.
@Newswave please highlight this news to the world as top story. Truly these are the marvel of our Heros. We have Heroa in every field not only in the cricket.