Experts to probe jets’ near miss

BRITISH aviation experts are to examine the reasons why two military aircraft flew in to controlled airspace before sweeping past a Cork-bound airplane, forcing the pilot to switch to manual and execute a sharp 1,000ft dive.

Senior members of the Royal Air Force are expected to be called before an air proximity investigation panel to explain the actions of the pilots. Aer Arann Flight RA464 was 20 minutes out of Edinburgh and had just passed the west coast of Scotland when the pilot of the commercial flight saw one of the jets flying right to left across his eyeline.

Air traffic control immediately ordered the dive and the pilot had no time to warn the 32 passengers on board. Passengers on the 2pm flight to Cork were then told by the pilot that the airplane had just been involved in a near miss with a British military jet and that there was visual contact as it flew right to left across his eyeline.

The first the pilot would have known about the jets was when he saw them.

At the same time, air traffic control picked up the jets on ground radar and issued the instruction to dive. The plane was on automatic and cruising at 18,000 ft north east of Belfast at the time of the alert. Aer Arann said its craft was keeping to the designated flight path. An RAF spokesperson said she could not confirm whether the force’s jets were involved but had no reason to disbelieve the pilot.

It is understood the pilot instigated the investigation and was backed up by air traffic control.

Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority is to investigate the incident, which happened on Thursday. A panel of experts, including pilots, air traffic controllers and other military and civilian personnel will investigate.

There were close to 60 air proximity investigations in Britain last year. Investigators concluded there was a possible risk in just under 10% of cases.

Irish Airline Pilots Association safety expert Willie Butler, who declined to comment on this near miss, said all commercial airlines are fitted with the TCAS collision warning equipment which allows computers in each craft to ‘speak’ to each other. Pilots know the location of all aircraft within a 50-mile range.

But military aircraft are not linked in to the TCAS and can only be detected by ground radar. They should not be anywhere close to the flight paths of commercial airlines. Senior RAF members will have to explain why they were. Radar records will be used to track the flight paths of all three aircraft.

Passengers described how the plane nosedived without warning 20 minutes in to the journey. They screamed in terror as the plane made its rapid descent.