 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
B777 flight crew reported an airborne conflict on their flight through china airspace and expressed some discomfort with china ATC procedures.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1540177 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201805 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | VHHH.ARTCC |
| State Reference | FO |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B777 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Total 24000 Flight Crew Type 400 |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 11763 Flight Crew Type 1170 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict |
| Miss Distance | Vertical 800 |
Narrative:
Dispatch over china airspace adds more workload for crews working on the back side of the clock. Two offsets [were] directed by china ATC; which seem to be the norm for chinese traffic separation. First offset 20 NM right of track. [Soon after we were] issued a 20 NM left of track; with two assigned headings in the interim. We crossed opposing southbound traffic [with] 800 feet [separation]. Totally unsafe controlling by ATC. Two more offsets [were] issued; one for 10 NM and another for 4 NM. Again their way of preventing a catastrophe. Seems like it's always worst when flying north; as opposed to southbound flights. Maybe it's due to our higher altitude on the southbound legs. Still very unnerving when we are trying to relay request for weather deviations along the route; several of which [we experienced] on this leg. Light continuous turbulence; occasional moderate for the 1st 3 hours of flight. This dispatcher was obsessed with the wsi model forecast for turbulence on pacot routes this day. Area knowledge and experience has taught us that wsi more times than not is not the most accurate forecast medium. In hindsight; it would have been a safer course of action to fly pacot 1 or 2. Not only reducing flight time by 21 min; overfly cost; and added fuel burn. But most importantly avoiding chinese ATC traffic avoidance. Northbound flights should avoid dispatching over china at all cost.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B777 flight crew reported an airborne conflict on their flight through China airspace and expressed some discomfort with China ATC procedures.
Narrative: Dispatch over China airspace adds more workload for crews working on the back side of the clock. Two offsets [were] directed by China ATC; which seem to be the norm for Chinese traffic separation. First offset 20 NM right of track. [Soon after we were] issued a 20 NM left of track; with two assigned headings in the interim. We crossed opposing southbound traffic [with] 800 feet [separation]. Totally unsafe controlling by ATC. Two more offsets [were] issued; one for 10 NM and another for 4 NM. Again their way of preventing a catastrophe. Seems like it's always worst when flying north; as opposed to southbound flights. Maybe it's due to our higher altitude on the southbound legs. Still very unnerving when we are trying to relay request for weather deviations along the route; several of which [we experienced] on this leg. Light continuous turbulence; occasional moderate for the 1st 3 hours of flight. This Dispatcher was obsessed with the WSI model forecast for turbulence on PACOT routes this day. Area knowledge and experience has taught us that WSI more times than not is not the most accurate forecast medium. In hindsight; it would have been a safer course of action to fly PACOT 1 or 2. Not only reducing flight time by 21 min; overfly cost; and added fuel burn. But most importantly avoiding Chinese ATC traffic avoidance. Northbound flights should avoid dispatching over China at all cost.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.