Airprox
CHARLES PLANE IN NEAR-MISS DRAMA - The Sun/PA
A plane carrying the Prince of Wales was involved in a near miss with a passenger jet as he flew to Spain for a memorial service for the Madrid train bomb victims.
The Prince was not aware of the incident as he travelled to the continent on March 24, but it is believed both pilots filed reports about the event.
The Sun reported he was on HS146 of the Queen's Flight with one of his private secretaries and a military equerry and had taken off from RAF Northolt in west London.
The other plane involved was an Airbus A321 which can carry up to 186 passengers and it came within a few hundred metres of Charles' plane, it was claimed, as both jets flew near Newbury, Berks. at 11,500ft.
A spokesman for Clarence House said: "All we are saying is that passengers were informed of the incident afterwards but they weren't actually aware of it while the flight was taking place." The Civil Aviation Authority had brief details of the incident on its website.
The statement said: "An Aircraft Proximity (Airprox) report has been filed with the Civil Aviation Authority involving a military aircraft and an A321. The incident took place near Newbury on Wednesday March 24 at 0830 hours.
"The A321 was en-route to Heathrow and receiving an air traffic control service from the London Terminal Control Centre. The incident took place at approximately 11,500 feet.
"These details are subject to assessment by the independent UK Airprox Board." It added that during the first six months of 2003 there were 32 Airprox incidents involving civil air transport and 87% of these were assessed as having no risk of collision.
The UK Airprox Board will decide the seriousness or not of the incident and report later in the year.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We can confirm that there was a near-miss incident but not which aircraft were involved." end