Newcastle Airport near miss
15.09.08
Two passenger jets were put on a course towards each other by air traffic controllers at a North-East airport, the Northern Echo reports. Newcastle Airport confirmed last night that a Category C incident - defined by the Civil Aviation Authority as posing no risk of collision - occurred in its airspace on the afternoon of March 21.
The incident took place 3 miles north-east of the airport, with both planes under the control of Newcastle air traffic services. The ‘airprox’ involved two Boeing 737 aircraft ‘going around’ (waiting to land) in poor weather conditions.
A full investigation into the incident has been conducted by the CAA's UK Airprox Board (UKAB). It concluded that the airprox was caused by human error which resulted in one aircraft mistakenly being directed, for a short while, towards the other by a radar controller at Newcastle Airport - before both aircraft were turned away from each other.
An airport spokesman told the newspaper: ‘A review of air traffic control measures was implemented at Newcastle Airport as a result of the incident. We take matters of safety extremely seriously. We wish to assure the public that our response to this incident has been thorough and we have cooperated fully with the appropriate regulatory bodies to ensure that the highest levels of safety are maintained.’
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book hotels newcastle airport or parking newcastle airport at the lowest price, click on these links to two great newcastle airport car parking and newcastle airport hotel price comparison pages.
