Report from The Press and Journal (Scotland):
CAA 'AGHAST' AT JETS NEAR-MISS WITH HELICOPTER
27 October 2003
Two RAF jets and a civilian helicopter came within moments of colliding off the coast of Aberdeen in July last year, it has emerged.
The Jaguar jets passed just 100ft above the Super Puma helicopter as it was returning to Aberdeen from an oil rig.
Details of the incident have been published by the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) UK Airprox Board.
Its report states that a controller at Lossiemouth caused the near miss by advising the Jaguar pilots to take the same path and by giving misleading information about the helicopter's height.
The military controller was not disciplined because he was only advising the aircraft, which were not directly under his control.
They were not in cloud and were ultimately responsible for seeing what was ahead.
The lead jet only spotted the helicopter when it was 300 metres away and it was too late to take evasive action.
The report said: "At these speeds, the helicopter pilot had about five seconds to effect a change in his flight path."
The pilot pitched the nose of his craft down to avoid the jets, which passed 100ft above.
The CAA report said confusion arose partly because the air traffic controller told the lead pilot - who was instructing a refresher student - that there was another aircraft in the area but did not say it was a helicopter.
The pilot wrongly assumed it must be one of the three Jaguars which made up his own formation. The jets were then cleared to turn into a flight path heading toward the Super Puma.
The board's report said: "Pilot and controller members were aghast that the controller could have done so without clarifying if the Jaguar crew could see the helicopter."
The report said it had been a "close call". It added: "This should be used as an example to aircrew and controllers of how accumulated small errors can lead to dangerous situations. Poor communication, assumptions and a lack of positive control all contributed."
The CAA report did not identify the operator of the Super Puma.
Looking on the CAA UK site, I found the original:
Airprox Report - 3 July 2002
An Aircraft Proximity (Airprox) report has been filed with the Civil Aviation Authority involving two military jets and a Super Puma Helicopter. The incident took place 26 miles north north west of Aberdeen on Wednesday 3 July at 1005 hours.
The Super Puma Helicopter was en-route to Aberdeen and was receiving an air traffic service from RAF Lossiemouth. The incident took place at approximately 1,000 feet.
These details are subject to assessment by the independent UK Airprox Board. During 2001 there were 82 airprox incidents involving civil air transport and 78% of these were assessed as having no risk of collision.
And finally:
Airprox 104/02 on 3 Jul 02 - involving Jaguars x 2 and an AS332L2 : Risk B **
RECOMMENDATION: That the MOD considers, through HQ STC Flight Safety and Ops Spt ATC, a review of the guidance promulgated to military controllers in JSP 318A, about expressing the vertical position of ac by reference to the appropriate height/altitude/flight level datum when included within traffic information.
MoD Action: The MoD considers that the training received by military controllers should leave them in no doubt as to the dangers of mixing height, altitude and flight level information. Likewise the need for caution is emphasised in JSP 318A. However, several areas within JSP 318A have been identified where improvements could be made and these are being implemented in due course in the new JSP 552. Meanwhile, these changes and lessons learned will be highlighted to military ATC controllers, the Central ATC School, the ATC Examining Board and the ASACS community.
** Analysis of Airprox in UK Airspace - Report No 9: July-Dec 2002
Published October 2003