A Darwin air traffic controller has been suspended after an inbound Qantas Boeing 717 from Alice Springs was directed into the path of a Qantas Boeing 737 that had just departed Darwin for Melbourne


The Qantas Boeing 717 was carrying 115 passengers and there were 155 passengers on board the Boeing 737 - they missed each other by only 200 metres

"The Traffic Collision Avoidance System aboard the Boeing 717 is believed to have indicated that the two aircraft were on the same path and separated by about 200 metres in altitude"


A RAAF C-130 Hercules that was also flying in the area at the time had been assigned the same air traffic control system tag as one of the two airliners