ATC said , turn right onto a heading of 270° , Cockpit responded with turning Left after missing 'Read Back' , caused a near miss !

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation found that  an avoidable incident  on  February 9th  2020 could have led to irreverisble consequences.

• On 9th February 2020, a Singapore Airlines A380 was on approach to Sydney, but missed the first attempt due to bad weather.
• Cockpit Crew informed air traffic control, on which ATC advised to turn right onto a heading of 270° .
• Cockpit crew misheard the instruction and instead turned left into path of other plane, lacking a read back (hear back).

Moment went tensed, when circumstances brought a close call between a two passenger aircrafts above Sydney airport , as a result of other aircraft (read as A380) mishearing directions from tower.

The ATSB investigation found that, A Singapore airlines flight was preparing to land in Sydney on February 9th  2020, but  could not succeed to land on the first attempt due to the bad weather.

What happened on that Day ?

The crew advised Sydney Airport air traffic control of the missed approach and were told to turn right onto a heading of 270°, however the pilots misheard the instruction and turned left. Communication lacked a read back as well.

Due to this action of Airbus A380, the aircraft took a heading that would bring it too close to another passenger aircraft but ATC came to the rescue and ordered to turn right and immediately climb.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) View

The situation was diffused for that time , but  ATSB  found that the incident could have avoided altogether if air traffic control had responded differently ,  Air traffic control missed an opportunity to confirm the order had been correctly noted

The pilots of the Singapore Airlines flight were likely experiencing a high workload managing a high-energy aircraft state and recovering from difficult winds and the missed approach, ATSB acting Director of Transport Safety Kerri Hugh said.

'The flight crew omitted the direction of the turn from their readback, which was not corrected by ATC.

'This was a missed opportunity to correct the misheard instruction.

The Imporatnace !

This particular incident underlines  the importance of cockpit crew completing full readbacks, as well as ATC correcting any readback discrepancies immediately for a smooth transaction.

About the "Read back or Hear back" :

Basics - the flight crew must read back to the air traffic controller safety - related parts of ATC clearances and instructions which are transmitted by voice.

Which items are a must for the read back ?

►  ATC route clearances.

►  Clearances and instructions to enter , land on , take off from, hold short of, cross or backtrack on any runway.

►  Runway-in-use, altimeter settings, SSR codes, level instructions, heading and speed instructions, transition Levels.