Missed call led to mid-air near disaster

A missed call to climb to a higher altitude led to a mid-air ‘‘near disaster’’ involving an F15 military fighter and a holiday jet carrying 234 passengers, an official accident report disclosed today.

In one of the most serious UK near-misses recorded, the American F15, which failed to hear the climb instruction, passed so close that the Britannia Airways Boeing 757 was caught up in its wake turbulence.