Almost plane crash over Ghent

An airliner of Air France on its way to Amsterdam on the first day of the year over the Belgian city of Ghent nearly collided with an Egyptian cargo plane.

The Airbus A320 of Air France had started the descent to Schiphol and the Egyptian Airbus A300 had taken off from the airport in Ostend and flew to Cairo.

According to people involved in the investigation ignored the Egyptian crew three times instructions from air traffic control to fly any higher. To make matters worse, the crew also ignored an alarm which went off as the two aircraft approached each other so close. According to the Belgian broadcaster VRT they approached each other until only 90 meters. The examination of the aviation authorities to this ' serious incident '' is ongoing.