Can't agree more. Journalistic license can be a dangerous thing.
Must ask though, was this the first time that mixed mode operations had been used?
Assuming that the Geneva flight was a EMB-145 then presumably it would have been doing a Conga rather than a Honiley SID and so the two aircraft - the other was a DHC-8 operating to Edinburgh - would have been on diverging courses after only 1 mile.
Sadly seems as if the whole thing has probably been blown well out of proportion.
[This message has been edited by Scottie Dog (edited 06 May 2001).]