LAN B788 and LAN B788 near Lima on Jun 11th 2013, near collision

Last Update: September 8, 2013 / 14:13:55 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 11, 2013

Classification
Incident

Cause
Near collision

Airline
LAN Airlines

Flight number
LA-643

Departure
Lima, Perú

Destination
Santiago, Chile

Aircraft Registration
CC-BBA

Aircraft Type
Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

ICAO Type Designator
B788

A LAN Airlines Boeing 787-800, registration CC-BBA performing flight LA-643 from Lima (Peru) to Santiago (Chile), was enroute at FL410 southbound along airway UL302 nearing waypoint IREMI marking the border between Peru and Chile about 370nm south of Lima. IREMI also marks the boundary and mandatory reporting point between FIR Lima and FIR Antofagasta.

A LAN Airlines Boeing 787-800, registration CC-BBB performing flight LA-540 from Santiago (Chile) to Lima (Peru), was enroute at FL410 northbound along airway UL302 crossing waypoint IREMI at the same time.

Radar images show the aircraft head to head in Peruvian Airspace just north of IREMI until LA-643, obviously responding to a TCAS resolution advisory, started to climb reaching FL418 while LA-540 initiated a sharp left hand turn and changed heading by 90 degrees while maintaining FL410 until both aircraft were clear of conflict.

On Aug 23rd 2013 The Aviation Herald inquired with LAN Airlines, DGAC Peru and DGAC Chile, however so far did not receive any reply to the sequence of events. It remains therefore unclear what minimum separation remained and how the conflict could develop, whether hand off procedures between Peru and Chile played a role and whether both aircraft were on the same frequency.

On Aug 29th 2013 a spokesman for LAN Airlines sent an e-mail complaining that we reported we had contacted the airline when in fact they had not been contacted. The Aviation Herald e-mailed evidence to the contrary (with the corresponding server logs and the acceptance message of LAN Airline's mail server) and informed the spokesman via SMS (phone) that this e-mail had been sent. No further communication has occurred since.

On Sep 3rd 2013 the DGAC Chile responded that they are not aware of the occurrence and it would be the responsibility of the state of occurrence to investigate the occurrence, hence the DGAC Chile is not able to answer the questions issued by The Aviation Herald.

According to information provided to The Aviation Herald, a brand new radar system has been installed by Peru in early 2012, about 18 months ago, cost about 45 million US$. The system is operating ever since however is not being staffed and is not being used by air traffic control at all due to internal contractual issues. The new Peruvian radar system is capable of monitoring far beyond UL302 into the Pacific.

There was no reply yet at all from DGAC Peru even after resubmitting the questions, so that besides details of the conflict the details about the radar system remain unclear, too, although the lack of reply suggests the information provided so far is correct.

According to TCAS criteria a resolution advisory is issued when the TCAS computes a possible collision within 35 seconds at that altitude. Assuming a speed of 450 knots true airspeed for each of the aircraft, closing speed 900 knots, this equates to 8.75nm lateral distance with 0 feet vertical, when the resolution advisories were issued followed by the initiation of evasive maneouvers by both aircraft.

Following the event the Aeronautics Information Packages of both Peru and Chile were changed on Jul 15th 2013 with respect to the crossing of the FIR boundaries between Antofagasta and Lima. The AIP stressed that flights with a track between 000 and 179 degrees should be cleared onto odd flights levels (FL290, 310, 330, 350, 370, 390, 410, 450, 530) while flights with a track between 180 and 359 degrees should be cleared onto even flight levels (FL280, 300, 320, 340, 360, 380, 400, 430, 490, 570). In addition, any aircraft entering the FIR Lima should contact the control frequencies of Lima 5 minutes prior to entering the FIR to provide an estimated time of entering the FIR and flight level while maintaining radio contact with Antofagasta. In addition the strategic use of lateral offsets from the airway center lines is being permitted between waypoints ELASA and IREMI (UL302) as well as on other parallel airways. The new procedure, also issued as NOTAM, explicitely states: "Pilots may, if necessary, contact other aircraft to coordinate lateral displacement air -to-air frequency 123.45 MHz"
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 11, 2013

Classification
Incident

Cause
Near collision

Airline
LAN Airlines

Flight number
LA-643

Departure
Lima, Perú

Destination
Santiago, Chile

Aircraft Registration
CC-BBA

Aircraft Type
Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

ICAO Type Designator
B788

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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