ORAC
19th Jun 2007, 18:26
BBC: Nimrod and helicopter's near miss (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/6767259.stm)
A Nimrod aircraft and a helicopter came within 200ft of colliding at RAF Kinloss, it has emerged. An official report into the incident last October gave it a category A rating - meaning there was a serious risk of collision.
The incident happened at night and in poor weather conditions as the Nimrod crew practised overshooting the runway. The near-miss occurred as a Bristow Superpuma helicopter took off from the same runway at RAF Kinloss.
Radar equipment at nearby RAF Lossiemouth showed the two aircrafts' contacts merging as they came to less than 200ft from each other. Neither crew saw the other aircraft. It was "purely fortuitous" that the aircraft did not collide, investigators said.
A report by the Joint Airprox Working Group said that the Kinloss air traffic controller had cleared the helicopter for take-off, in conflict with the approaching Nimrod. The report stated: "This Airprox resulted because the Kinloss tower controller cleared the Puma to take off into conflict with the Nimrod."
Controller members stressed that (the control) tower should have monitored the aircraft more closely. "It was purely fortuitous that any separation existed at all as each aircraft turned in opposite directions and both aircraft climbed."
A spokesman for RAF Kinloss said lessons had been learned from the incident. He added: "In a professional aviation situation that's what the value of these Airprox reports is."
A Nimrod aircraft and a helicopter came within 200ft of colliding at RAF Kinloss, it has emerged. An official report into the incident last October gave it a category A rating - meaning there was a serious risk of collision.
The incident happened at night and in poor weather conditions as the Nimrod crew practised overshooting the runway. The near-miss occurred as a Bristow Superpuma helicopter took off from the same runway at RAF Kinloss.
Radar equipment at nearby RAF Lossiemouth showed the two aircrafts' contacts merging as they came to less than 200ft from each other. Neither crew saw the other aircraft. It was "purely fortuitous" that the aircraft did not collide, investigators said.
A report by the Joint Airprox Working Group said that the Kinloss air traffic controller had cleared the helicopter for take-off, in conflict with the approaching Nimrod. The report stated: "This Airprox resulted because the Kinloss tower controller cleared the Puma to take off into conflict with the Nimrod."
Controller members stressed that (the control) tower should have monitored the aircraft more closely. "It was purely fortuitous that any separation existed at all as each aircraft turned in opposite directions and both aircraft climbed."
A spokesman for RAF Kinloss said lessons had been learned from the incident. He added: "In a professional aviation situation that's what the value of these Airprox reports is."