Boeing Co 767-338ER, VH-OGP

Sequence of events

On 19 June 2004, at about 1908 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC),
two Australian registered Boeing Company 767-338ER aircraft were
involved in a serious incident in the Ujung Pandang Flight
Information Region (FIR) on air route B473, approximately 60 NM
northwest of waypoint SAMGE (latitude 02o21/10//N, longitude 129
o39/00//E).

Flight number QF 83, registered VH-OGP was northbound and flight
number QF 98, registered VH-OGQ was southbound on the same air
route. The crew of QF 83 reported at SAMGE at 1901 UTC. The crew
stated that Ujung Control cleared the crew to `Descend flight level
(FL) 350, cross SADAN at FL350 and report leaving FL360'. At about
1906, while continuing to maintain FL360, the crew observed an
aircraft (QF 98) on the reciprocal track. The crew of QF 98 were
cruising at their cleared level of FL350. This aircraft passed
1,000 ft below QF 83 at about 1908. The crew of QF 98 asked Ujung
Control to confirm their clearance. The controller then replied
`Maintain FL360, report at time 1917'. If the crew of QF 83 had
descended their aircraft from FL360 to FL350 there would have been
an infringement of separation standards and an increased risk of
collision, with QF 98.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was advised of the
incident and commenced an investigation. The crews of both aircraft
were interviewed and data from each aircraft's quick access
recorder was analysed. A review of that data subsequently revealed
that the incident occurred inside Indonesian territory.
Accordingly, 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 8 July 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.

The ATSB will publish the NTSC report on its website
www.atsb.gov.au when released by the NTSC.