A pilot had to act fast to avoid a collision near the Fredericton airport Wednesday afternoon, according to reports.

An Air Canada Jazz pilot believed that a student plane from the flight college got too close and said he had to take "collision avoidance measures," according to a passenger on the flight, 8956 from Toronto.

The passenger jet was on its way to landing but then accelerated, climbed and banked, before circling and landing safely, the passenger said.

A Fredericton airport official said the pilot purposely missed his approach to increase the distance between the planes.

'Our instructor just basically followed procedure.'—Mike Doiron, CEO, Moncton Flight College

"Aircraft typically have a safety protocol, which involves issuing a proximity warning when another aircraft has reached a certain distance from it," Melodie Beal explained in an email. "This just lets pilots know that an aircraft is nearby and that they should take measures to increase this distance between the aircraft.

"This is what happened earlier today with Air Canada Jazz. Although it is better not to have the proximity warnings go off, they are there for a reason and it is not that unusual when it does happen."

Air Canada Jazz is looking into the incident, a spokeswoman said, but couldn't confirm any details.

The passenger, who asked not to be named, said that everyone on board seemed calm but a bit confused.

Misunderstanding

Mike Doiron, the CEO of Moncton Flight College, which operates the Fredericton location, said his safety department is investigating, but preliminary information suggests it was all a "misunderstanding" between the Air Canada pilot and his senior flight instructor, who was the other pilot involved.

"Our aircraft was actually doing a clearing manoeuvre, even though she had the right of way 'cause she was the number one traffic, according to preliminary information," said Doiron.

"She was actually effectively doing what's called a 360, in other words to basically get out of the way to allow the airliner to land so we didn't disrupt the traffic pattern.

"And, for whatever reason, there appears to be a misunderstanding between the pilots and the Air Canada pilot overshot, believing that there was going to be some form of conflict when actually our pilot was getting out of the way well in advance to ensure that there was no conflict," he said.

"Our instructor just basically followed procedure."

Moncton Flight College's Fredericton-based students use the same air space as commercial jets landing and taking off at Fredericton International Airport, the country's busiest airport operating without air traffic controllers.

The airport uses flight service station staff to advise pilots on weather and traffic conditions. The pilots then make landing and takeoff decisions themselves.

But Nav Canada announced in July that the airport will be getting an air traffic control tower in December. Twelve full-time air traffic controllers will be phased in beginning Dec. 17, officials have said.

In June, Doiron said five student pilots crossed the flight paths of incoming jets at Fredericton. They were not close calls, he said, but still indicated the need for traffic controllers.