Alert Qantas skipper averts disaster

SHARP-EYED Qantas pilots who ignored air traffic control instructions may have prevented another near-collision between two planes in Indonesian airspace.
Qantas flight QF83, carrying 225 passengers, was flying from Melbourne to Hong Kong on June 19 when air traffic controllers cleared the plane to descend.
But the pilots of the Boeing 767-300 ignored the clearance after spotting another Qantas plane heading in the opposite direction, and kept the aircraft at its original flight level.
Although there was no breakdown of separation between the two aircraft, Qantas was sufficiently concerned to report the event to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
“The flight crew observed another Qantas aircraft, which was a Hong Kong-Brisbane flight, travelling southbound below them,” Qantas spokesman Michael Sharp said.
“And the flight crew on QF83 made the correct decision not to descend.”
This is the second time this year Indonesian air traffic controllers have issued questionable instructions to a Qantas plane.
In March, a Sydney-bound Qantas jetliner was placed on a collision course with an Air New Zealand plane near the island of Biak, off Irian Jaya.
The two Boeing 767-300s involved in that incident took evasive action after onboard computers alerted crews to the danger.