Planes come within 300ft of each other, avoid collision!

• An inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

A mid-air collision was averted in the Kolkata airspace last week after a Saudia Boeing 777 came within about 300 feet of a Boeing 747 owned by global logistics company UPS.

The aircraft averted a collision after the traffic alert and collision avoidance system, or TCAS, on both planes was triggered automatically, an Economic Times story reported.

The incident has again raised the question of safety over Indian skies. This was the second such incident within two days over the Kolkata airspace.The UPS aircraft was given instructions to climb from 32,000 feet to 34,000 feet. At that level, it was vertically only 300 feet away from the Saudia aircraft, flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet.

A radar controller has been grounded and an inquiry has been ordered into the incident, the story reported.