Mid-air crash averted off coast

A MID-AIR collision involving two large passenger aircraft was narrowly avoided over the Atlantic Ocean off Ireland last November, it has emerged.

An Air France Boeing 747 bound for Paris from Havana and an Airtours International Airbus travelling from Gatwick to Cancun, Mexico were less than 60 seconds away from a disastrous head-on crash with over 500 passengers on board.

The near-miss took place just outside Irish airspace about 380 miles west-southwest of Shannon at around 11am on November 10 last year.

Traffic control centres in Scotland and Ireland only became aware of the potential danger about eight minutes before the planes were due to cross.

Based on the reports of both pilots, it is estimated that the two planes were less than 20 nautical miles apart when the Airtours flight altered its course. The Airtours pilot reported seeing the Air France plane just 13 seconds after he had begun his descent.

Subsequently, the pilots of both craft reported that their anti-collision warning signals had begun flashing on their cockpit panels.

An aviation source said the incident was similar to the circumstances surrounding the mid-air crash between a Russian passenger jet and a DHL cargo plane over Lake Constance on the Swiss-German border last July which claimed the lives of over 70 people. On that occasion, the late realisation by air traffic controllers that both aircraft were on a collision course was believed to be a contributory factor.

A report by the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit on the November incident said an initial error by the pilot of the Airtours flight had been compounded by the subsequent action of air traffic controllers in Scotland and Ireland.

It concluded the “human factor failure” of the Airtours cockpit crew and three ATCs at Shanwick, near Glasgow and four ATCs at Shannon “combined to produce an unthinkable situation whereby two passenger aircraft were allowed come within minutes of a possible head-on collision.”

The near-collision occurred when the pilot of the Airtours flight mistakenly requested westbound clearance over the Atlantic by giving an estimated time of arrival at a clearance point as 11.45am, instead of 10.45am.

The error was not picked up by an ATC based at Shanwick who gave the flight clearance to continue its journey over the Atlantic at 37,000ft. Unknowingly, he had put the Airbus on the same flight path as the eastbound Air France jet. In turn, several ATCs at Shannon also failed to spot the error, despite flashing warning signs on their control panels. The mistake was only identified when Shannon ATCs were questioned about the one-hour time difference in the Airtours flight plan.

The Airtours pilot was issued with a priority notice to descend to 35,000ft immediately. A simultaneous instruction was sent to the Air France flight to climb to 38,000ft. However, the Air France pilot did not receive the message until after the two aircraft had passed each other.

Both flights were less than one minute’s flying time apart at the point where they established the safe vertical separation level of 1,000ft. Under aviation rules, such a vertical separation should be achieved at least 15 minutes before aircraft are due to cross.

The AAIU report found that information on flight levels and time was not provided at crucial stages. It concluded the Airtours plane had been incorrectly cleared by Shanwick ATC which had not confirmed any time estimate with the pilot, contrary to aviation rules.