Alert passenger averts mid-air crash

A watchful passenger averted a mid-air near collision in skies over King Island by alerting the pilot to an oncoming plane.

In late February a Cessna 150 took off from the island, bound for Barwon Heads Airport, soon after changing its radio frequency to a Victorian channel and therefore missing the calls of an incoming aircraft, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in its investigation completed this week.

At their closest the aircraft came within some 200 metres of each other, prompting a quick right turn by the Cessna pilot before both planes continued safely.