Mid-air scare! Air China Pilot misinterprets instruction and climbs a kilometer, narrowly avoiding collision with a Freighter.

• An Air China passenger plane unexpectedly maneuvered and entered a possible collision path with a SF Airlines cargo plane.
• TCAS systems of the two aircraft were activated at the same time and immediately recommended emergency maneuvers.
• The vertical distance between the two aircraft was less than 300 feet (about 91 meters).
• The relevant regulations stipulate that the cruising distance must be maintained at least 1,000 feet.
• The SF Express pilot responded that this move was "very inappropriate" and said that a formal report was needed.

Pilots of an Air China Airbus A350 aircraft misinterpreted the ATC instructions and climbed a kilometer, narrowly avoiding collision with cargo aircraft on 6th July.

The Air China A350 passenger plane mistakenly climbed to an unapproved altitude on the 6th over southern Siberia, Russia, resulting in a heart-stopping moment as it narrowly passed a SF Airlines Boeing 767 cargo plane, with only 100 meters of vertical separation between them.

Air China flight CA967 (A350-900, registration number B‑32DN) was flying from Shanghai to Milan. At 21:39 (GMT) on July 6, at a cruising altitude of 34,100 feet, it suddenly climbed to 36,000 feet without permission from the Russian tower, overlapping with the collision path of another SF Airlines Boeing 767 freighter (O3‑128, B‑220R) at 35,000 feet.

The vertical distance (Vertical separation minima) between the two aircraft was less than 300 feet (about 91 meters), far below the 1,000-foot safety distance (about 305 meters) required by international regulations.

Fortunately, the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) triggered and acted in time to prevent a tragedy.

The dangerous situation triggered the traffic collision warning system on both planes. The Air China pilot immediately asked the air traffic controller "what happened to cause the alarm".

The air traffic controller asked: "Are you climbing with instructions or without instructions? Please confirm."

The pilot responded: "No, thank you."

The Air China pilot seems to blame the Russian female air traffic controller, saying, "That woman was shouting over there, making everyone confused."

He continued, "We couldn’t explain it clearly to them," "Didn’t know how to say it."

He also said, "Guess we’ll have to write a report when we get back."

The SF Express pilot responded, "For sure, we have to report it immediately when we get back."

This maneuver was not required by air traffic control and it is not clear why the plane did it.

However, the recording showed that the air traffic control asked the other plane to change its altitude at the time. A possible explanation is that the Air China pilot misheard or misunderstood the instructions given to the other plane.

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