Air China flight CA428 has near miss with mountain on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island

[xtemujin 0]

Air China flight has near miss with mountain on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island

Flight bound for western city of Chengdu has narrow escape after making turn too soon after take-off

PUBLISHED : Monday, 05 June, 2017, 2:33pm

UPDATED : Monday, 05 June, 2017, 6:58pm

An Air China flight almost hit a mountain on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island on Sunday night when it made an early turn after taking off from the city’s international airport.

Images from aircraft tracking site Flightradar show flight CA428 turned south in the direction of fishing village Tai O and the island’s Big Buddha statue at around 9.30pm, while normal flight routes suggest the plane should have continued straight ahead westwards until it left the vicinity of the island.

 

An air control officer was forced to issue an immediate warning and set of directions to the pilot to correct the flight path.

The plane landed safely in China’s western city of Chengdu about two hours later.

It had been at 3,400 feet during the wrong turn. The highest point on Lantau is 3,066 feet.

But according to Civic Party lawmaker Jeremy Tam Man-ho, a licensed pilot, the minimum safe altitude for that area is 4,300 feet.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2096928/air-china-flight-has-near-miss-mountain-hong-kongs

Edited June 5, 2017 by xtemujin

[S V Choong 4]

Aircraft involved was B-6822.

 

Luckily they were able to take immediate action. Otherwise, Tai-O would have been the site of an air crash.