On 22 March 2004, at about 0435 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), a Boeing Company 767-338ER, registered VH-OGB, and a Boeing Company 767-319, registered ZK-NCF, were involved in a serious incident in the Ujung Pandang Flight Information Region (FIR).
OGB was southbound and NCF was northbound on air route B473, between waypoint OLENG and waypoint OPABA. The crew of OGB advised Ujung Control that they were at OLENG at 0423 and were level at flight level (FL) 350. The crew later reported that they requested approval from Ujung Control to climb their aircraft to FL370. Ujung Control subsequently approved that request. During that climb, and passing approximately FL355, the crew of OGB received a traffic advisory on their aircraft's traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS), followed by a resolution advisory, about NCF. The resolution advisory instructed the crew of OGB to descend their aircraft. The crew complied with the resolution advisory and descended their aircraft to FL350. The crew later reported that, during the descent manoeuvre, they saw NCF pass 600 ft above their aircraft.
NCF was northbound on air route B473, between waypoint OLENG and waypoint OPABA and was level at FL360. The crew later reported that they received a TCAS resolution advisory on OGB, travelling in the opposite direction. The crew of NCF climbed their aircraft in response to the resolution advisory. The crew later reported that they observed OGB on their TCAS, pass 400 ft below them.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was advised of the serious incident and commenced an investigation. The crew of OGB was interviewed and data from that aircraft's quick access recorder was analysed. As the incident occurred within Indonesian territory, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) had the responsibility to conduct an investigation in accordance with Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
On 26 March 2004, the NTSC informed the ATSB that they had commenced an investigation into the incident and the ATSB appointed an accredited representative to that investigation. The NTSC, being the investigation agency of the country in which the incident occurred, will be preparing the report and has control over the public release of any investigation findings.
As a result of another occurrence within an Indonesian FIR, which involved aircraft from the same Australian operator, that operator implemented new procedures to be followed when its aircraft are operating in Indonesian FIRs (see ATSB occurrence report number 200402411).
The Bureau will publish the NTSC report, when released by the NTSC, on the ATSB website.