Terrifying near miss between two Air Mauritius planes at 40,000ft

Two Air Mauritius planes have been involved in a near miss over Sudan due to a blunder allegedly attributed to Ethiopian air-traffic controllers.

The incident happened on January 16 when two Air Mauritius Airbus A350s almost crossed each other’s flight path over Sudan, according to l’Express newspaper.

Flight MK15 from London was reportedly at an altitude of 39,000 feet, while the one on the way to Paris (flight MK42) was at 38,000 feet altitude.

At one point, the plane bound for Paris reportedly asked permission from the Ethiopian traffic controller to climb to 40,000 feet. Media reports claimed the latter apparently gave him permission even if the other Air Mauritius aircraft was closing in.

It was reportedly thanks to the Traffic and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) fitted on both planes that the collision was avoided.

The distance between both aircrafts was only 800 metres when they passed each other.

“In their report, the pilots themselves say that they owe their salvation to this device (TCAS),” Defi Media reported.

Close calls usually come down to either pilot or controller error.

Air Mauritius pilots have claimed they were misguided by Ethiopian air traffic controllers, raising security concerns along this route.

Air Mauritius and the Mauritius Civil Aviation Department have urged Ethiopian Civil aviation authorities to submit a report on the incident.