Virgin Airlines pilot first alerted authorities to Chinese live fire danger on Friday

Aviation officials have revealed they first learnt of a potential Chinese "live fire" military exercise in the Tasman Sea last week after a Virgin Airlines pilot relayed warnings he had picked up mid-flight via an emergency radio frequency. "It was in fact a Virgin Australia aircraft that advised one of our air traffic controllers that a foreign warship was broadcasting that they were conducting live firing 300 nautical miles east off our coast," Mr Sharp said. Deputy Airservices Australia CEO Peter Curran explained to the committee that the Virgin pilot monitored radio transmissions direct from one of the Chinese warships via an 'international guard frequency', which is not monitored by air traffic controllers. "We can't hear what was said, so the pilot of the Virgin aircraft heard what was said from the Chinese vessel, relayed that back to air traffic control then passed that through our system and started giving hazard alerting to all aircraft on the frequency," Mr Curran said.