Air China in close call Hong Kong - Curt Lewis

Air China pilot flew into near disaster after take off from Chek Lap Kok (Hong Kong)

An Air China flight which took off last night from Hong Kong to Chengdu, made an abnormal turn towards Tai O last night, triggering urgent warnings from air traffic control to prevent it from flying into the hills.

Flight CA428, which left Hong Kong airport at 8:45 pm Sunday, made a left turn towards Tai O in an apparent mistake. Audio recordings showed that the pilot did not answer instructions from air traffic control promptly, as controllers kept urging him to make a turn and climb.

The Civic Party lawmaker Jeremy Tam, who is a pilot, told RTHK today that the Air China flight incident shows violations of safety protocols that could have ended in a disaster.

Tam said he can't say at this stage what caused the plane take its initial path.

He said a crash would have been unlikely even if the flight had failed to react promptly. But the incident showed that the pilot did not maintain the minimum height safety level aircrafts are supposed to maintain.

"In Lantau Island the highest spot is 3,066 feet. During his early left turn, his altitude was 3,400 feet ... the safe altitude over that area is 4,300 feet," Tam said.

Tam also says frontline air traffic staff performed professionally in this incident.