KCDW
27th May 2003, 16:46
What's the chance of this..
Last Sunday, on a break in Blighty, I took the family for a jaunt into the Thames estuary to have a look at those old WW2 forts in the estuary, and saunter around enjoying the beautiful day.
At the club (Headcorn), I bumped into a chap obcvously prepping for his Test. You can spot them a mile off :) .
I asked what his route was, and he said Wyvenhoe, which coincidentally was mine 4 years back.
Anyway we went our seperate ways. He was in LX, I was in KX. After checking out the forts, I suggested to Mrs KCDW that we poodle Westward along the Thames. Tuned into Southend, and lo and behold there was LX (very calmly I thought) calling in for transition. It rapidly became clear that we were going to pass pretty close. He was at 2,200' and I was at 2000'. In fact, Southend Approach was suggesting that I reduce altitude, when I saw him above, going South/North, while I was going East/West. I judged that he was definitely 200' clear. He climbed a bit, I dived a bit to ensure clearance.
There is no doubt about it, if we had been at the same altitude, we would have collided, as he passed directly over us. As it was, it felt perfectly safe, I had visual in plenty of time, and the height separation was adequate. I wished him luck, and his next call to Approach was still professional and calm. Hope it didn't rattle him, and hope he passed!
So what's the chance of 2 aircraft leaving the same field, with different Flight Plans, ending up so close in the sky an hour later?
Last Sunday, on a break in Blighty, I took the family for a jaunt into the Thames estuary to have a look at those old WW2 forts in the estuary, and saunter around enjoying the beautiful day.
At the club (Headcorn), I bumped into a chap obcvously prepping for his Test. You can spot them a mile off :) .
I asked what his route was, and he said Wyvenhoe, which coincidentally was mine 4 years back.
Anyway we went our seperate ways. He was in LX, I was in KX. After checking out the forts, I suggested to Mrs KCDW that we poodle Westward along the Thames. Tuned into Southend, and lo and behold there was LX (very calmly I thought) calling in for transition. It rapidly became clear that we were going to pass pretty close. He was at 2,200' and I was at 2000'. In fact, Southend Approach was suggesting that I reduce altitude, when I saw him above, going South/North, while I was going East/West. I judged that he was definitely 200' clear. He climbed a bit, I dived a bit to ensure clearance.
There is no doubt about it, if we had been at the same altitude, we would have collided, as he passed directly over us. As it was, it felt perfectly safe, I had visual in plenty of time, and the height separation was adequate. I wished him luck, and his next call to Approach was still professional and calm. Hope it didn't rattle him, and hope he passed!
So what's the chance of 2 aircraft leaving the same field, with different Flight Plans, ending up so close in the sky an hour later?