Britain's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) is conducting an urgent investigation into an incident last month in which two passenger aircraft came within 100 feet of colliding at London's Heathrow Airport, it emerged yesterday.
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) confirmed the investigation, which could take "some months" to complete, saying the chief inspector of the AAIB would be looking at all possible factors involved in the near miss.
The factors under consideration will include the volume of air traffic at Heathrow, the weather on the day of the incident and why a trainee air traffic controller who was receiving instruction was controlling the movement of aircraft at the time.
The AAIB usually investigates air crashes, while the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) looks into near misses, but the Heathrow incident was classified as an air traffic control incident and considered so serious that the DETR ordered the AAIB to take control of the investigation.
The incident took place at 3.05 p.m. on April 28th when an incoming British Airways Boeing 747 from Tokyo was cleared to land on the same runway as a British Midland Airbus cleared for take-off to Brussels. The Boeing 747 aircraft was believed to have been seconds away from landing on top of the Airbus when air traffic control realised the error and ordered the Boeing 747 to change course.
It is understood that due to the volume of air traffic at Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, single runways are often used for both landing and takeoff. The procedures are normally separated, but on very busy days, runways can be used for both purposes.
British Midland would only confirm yesterday that its aircraft had been cleared for take-off and the Boeing 747 was cleared to land and that both aircraft were under the control of Heathrow's air traffic control. British Airways said it was "fully co-operating" with the AAIB.
Mr David Learmont, operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine, told the Evening Standard that he believed the incident "must have been serious", otherwise the AAIB would not have been called on to investigate.
In a full-scale emergency last night the passengers and crew of a British Airways flight bound for Belfast emerged unscathed after a three-hour ordeal when their aircraft was diverted to Liverpool.
All 44 passengers and four crew made a successful evacuation after the propeller aircraft tilted onto one wing during the emergency landing after being diverted to Liverpool shortly after taking off from Manchester. The pilot reported problems with the landing gear shortly after taking off from Manchester Airport at 6.08 p.m.
Those on board the aircraft then spent an agonising three-hour wait as the pilot circled to burn off fuel before making the emergency landing.