Boeing Co 767-338ER, VH-OGB

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.