An air collision was avoided above Belgium on the night of 31 December to 1 January, between an Egyptian A300 cargo and an Air France A320 with passengers on board.
The Directorate General of Belgian Air Transport (DGTA) confirmed the incident this weekend, after the Flemish newspaper VRT deredactie echoed it in its columns. The two planes approached at least 300 feet vertically and 0.74 nautical miles horizontally, while flying over the city of Ghent at an altitude of 22,000 feet.
The Air France A320 was flying from Paris to Amsterdam, carrying about 160 passengers on board. The Egyptian cargo A300 was en route from Cologne to Cairo
An investigation is under way to determine the exact circumstances that may have led to this “serious incident”. According to the Belgian press, the crew of the Egyptian A300 cargo have ignored on three occasions the ATC instructions.
The ATC asked the Egyptian A300 to stop its climb as it approached dangerously from the French plane which began its descent to Amsterdam Schipol airport.
When the two planes approached each other dangerously close, TCAS warning system triggered in the cockpit but the Egyptian pilots did not react.
