Aviação

Incident: TAP A343 and Air France B773 over South Atlantic on Jan 7th 2013, Oceanic control clearance leads to TCAS RAs

By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Jul 6th 2013 16:26Z, last updated Tuesday, Nov 4th 2014 19:23Z

A TAP Air Portugal Airbus A340-300, registration CS-TOC performing flight TP-87 (dep Jan 6th) from Lisbon (Portugal) to Sao Paulo,SP (Brazil) with 262 passengers and 12 crew, was enroute at FL340 southbound on airway UN873 across the South Atlantic in HF communication with Oceanic Control of Canary Islands.

An Air France Boeing 777-300, registration F-GSQJ performing flight AF-457 from Sao Paulo,SP (Brazil) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France), was enroute at FL350 northbound on airway UN873 about to be handed off to HF communication with Oceanic Control of Canary Islands.

When the TAP crew reported passing waypoint LIMAL the crew requested FL360 and was told, that this was currently not possible due to Air France Flight AF-443 at FL350 in opposite direction, they would need to wait to ISOKA before they could be cleared to FL360. After reaching ISOKA the crew repeated their request to climb to FL360, Oceanic control coordinated the request and cleared the aircraft to climb to FL360.

At that point AF-457 maintaining FL350 had reached the boundary between FIRs Sal and Canary Islands and was about to be handed off to Canary Islands Oceanic Control.

When TP-87 climbed through FL354 TCAS resolution advisories activated in both aircraft instructing the crew of TP-87 to climb and AF-457 to descend. Both crews complied with the TCAS resolution advisories until both TCAS systems announced "clear of conflict". TP-87 completed the climb to FL360 and AF-457 returned to FL350.

Both flights continued to their destinations for safe landings.

On Jul 5th 2013 the Spanish CIAIAC reported both flight crews and Oceanic Control Canary Islands filed according safety reports, the CIAIAC have opened an investigation.

On Nov 4th 2014 the Spanish CIAIAC released their final report concluding the cause of the incident was:

The incident took place because the flight progress strip for aircraft AFR-457 was placed in the sequence for airway UN-857, associated with waypoint BIPET, instead of in the sequence for airway UN-873, associated with waypoint IPERA, where the aircraft actually was.

This is believed to have happened as the result of an error in the execution-supervision process that should have been followed in the Oceanic Sector control post at the Canaries Control Center (GCCC OCE).

The CIAIAC analysed: "The executive controller in Sector GCCC OCE rejected aircraft TAP-087’s initial climb request to FL360 at 02:09:37 because there was traffic on the same airway flying in the opposite direction at FL350 and they had not yet crossed. The controller calculated that the aircraft would cross in the vicinity of waypoint ISOKA and informed aircraft TAP-087 that it would be able to authorize the climb at said point. On checking the board, the controllers did not see any traffic in the UN-873 sequence that could affect aircraft TAP-087. The flight progress strip for flight AFR-457 had not yet been printed. This would happen at 02:27:43, as indicated on the aircraft’s flight progress strip. When aircraft TAP-087 reached waypoint ISOKA at 02:36:33, one of the Sector GCCC OCE controllers called the SAL ACC to