French fighters force easyJet plane to take evasive action
28.08.08
An easyJet plane heading for Bristol Airport was forced to take evasive action after two French fighters strayed into its airspace, the Scotsman reports. The Airbus A319 plane operating flight number EZY 395 en route from Bristol with seven crew and 124 passengers on board was around seven to eight miles from Inverness Airport when the pair of Mirage 2000 jets taking part in a major military exercise flew into the airspace.
The incident happened on 20 September last year at 2100 feet over the Moray Firth, but an aircraft proximity report has just been published as it took time to identify the fighters involved. At their closest, the easyJet plane and the fighters were 2.6 nautical miles apart.
A report by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) said the Mirages, which had been taking part in a training exercise, had taken off from RAF Lossiemouth and were trying to enter the Tain bombing range in Rossshire when the incident occurred at 10:21. The easyJet pilot did not see the French jets but received an ‘avoiding action’ instruction from air traffic control.
The UKAB said it was concerned the Mirages had flown within ten nautical miles of Inverness without talking to the air traffic controller (ATC) there. However, the board unanimously found there had been no risk of collision between the aircraft.
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