Kenya Aviation Authority Refutes Reports That Two Planes Nearly Collided on Kenyan Airspace

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has dismissed reports that two passenger aircrafts were involved in a near-collision in Kenyan airspace at Naivasha last week.

Reacting to an article published in The East African, the state aviation agency on Monday termed the reports as misleading.

“The said aircraft were in communication with Nairobi on 29th August 2018 and they were maintaining correct flight levels. The Controller issued instructions to separate the aircraft before the minimum allowable distance of 10NM was bridged, details of which are available in our records,” KCAA Director General Gilbert Kibe said in a statement to newsrooms.

“The objective of Air Traffic Control (ATC) among others is to avoid collision and the Air Traffic Control Officer (ATCO) in Kenya did their work as expected.”

The authority further said none of the pilots alleged to have been flying the planes filed an incident report as would have been the case “if indeed the pilot took the initiative on his own without getting the instructions from ATC.”

“The two aircraft are also well fitted with Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) that would issue automatic instructions requiring each of the aircraft to take a specific action to avoid collision,” adds the statement.

The agency also denied the alleged existence of warpath between Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) and Kenya Air Traffic Controllers.

“The two Civil Aviation Authorities are constantly in communication and no official correspondence from Ethiopia has been received expressing displeasure with Kenya Air Traffic Controllers,” reads the statement.

The East African reported that the two flights missed each other by a whisker “when the pilot of one of the planes — upon receiving a warning from the inflight traffic collision system — made a sudden climb to avoid the oncoming flight.”