Jetliner "Dipped Like A Diver" To Avoid Collision

It was a close thing -- two Airbus aircraft (type unknown) plowing through the air over Pakistan came within five seconds of colliding before one of them dove with such force that the passengers in the back were left bruised, shaken and in tears.

It happened Thursday over eastern Pakistan. An Air Blue flight from Karachi to Lahore was flying along at 37,000 feet. At the same time and approximately the same altitude, a Pakistani International Airlines Airbus was on its way from Karachi to Islamabad.

What happened next is the subject of widely varying stories from the two airlines. Air Blue commercial director Nasir Ali said his company's flight, with 144 passengers on board, passed below the PIA aircraft with a good 1,000 foot margin.

"No unusual maneuvers were performed by the Air Blue aircraft," he told the Associated Press. "There was no danger to any of the passengers on the Air Blue aircraft at any time."

But PIA's flight ops director, Capt. Asif Raza, tells it differently. He says the crew aboard the PIA aircraft carrying 179 passengers got a TCAS alert and had to initiate a steep dive of 700 feet to avoid the Air Blue plane.

"We were lucky that two senior and seasoned pilots were flying the (PIA) aircraft," Raza told The Associated Press. "They had just five seconds to get the aircraft away from that air corridor, otherwise there could have been a mid-air collision."

Back in the cabin, women and children cried openly. Some recited prayers, afraid they would die. One of them was the chief spokesman for the Pakistani government, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

"Those few moments were very heavy for us, like we were going (to die)," he told reporters. The Airbus nosed down "like a diver," he said.

"Women and children began crying... Two, four passengers were slammed against the roof because they had not fastened the seat belts," he said, adding that doctors on board took care of the injured people.

One passenger reportedly banged his head on the drink cart and a flight attendant broke her hand. Those were apparently the only injuries sustained in the near-miss.

Pakistani ruler General Pervez Musharraf called Ahmed to make sure his information minister was okay.

A Civil Aviation official told reporters a glance at the data from both aircraft showed there was sufficient vertical separation. He said the agency was trying to figure out why the crew of the PIA aircraft initiated so severe a maneuver.

FMI: www.caapakistan.com.pk