Mix-up by trainee 'was starting point of near miss'

A mix-up by a trainee air traffic controller set in motion a series of events that almost led to a collision between two airliners over central Japan.

The two Japan Airlines jets, together carrying almost 700 passengers, passed as close as 60 feet from each other west of Tokyo on Wednesday.

Forty-two people were injured aboard one of the planes when its pilot dived suddenly to avoid disaster.

Flight transcripts painted a picture of confusion on the ground and in the air.

Tower personnel in a Tokyo suburb gave contradictory instructions. One of the pilots did not respond to orders from an air traffic controller to change course.

The other disregarded evasive action called for by his on-board anti-collision system.

Civil aviation officials announced today that the first - and perhaps crucial - mistake was made by an air traffic controller in his third year of training who told the wrong plane to reduce altitude less than a minute before the close call.

His supervisor countermanded the order 38 seconds later.

The two air traffic controllers told investigators they "recognised the error was the starting point of the near-miss incident", said the Transport Ministry's Air Traffic Control Division.

In a statement today the Japan Federation of Flight Crew Unions criticised police investigators, saying they barged into the cockpit of Flight 907 to question the pilot even before the injured passengers had been taken off.