A Boeing 737 arriving from a direct flight from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv on Tuesday, March 12, 2012 began lowering altitude without approval from the Ben-Gurion International Airport control over. As a result, the plane almost collided with an IsrAir flight.

According to the report, the pilot of the Danish flight was instructed to maintain an altitude of 4000 feet. When the flight was about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the airport the pilot was instructed to reduce speed to maintain a safe distance to another plane.

Apparently the pilot did not adhere to the instructions and he got dangerously close to another flight. An alert control tower agent realized the danger and took corrective action.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)