PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Jet dives to avoid another plane; 4 are hurt
Old 18th Sep 2003, 06:23
  #4 (permalink)  
Pontious
 
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: Manchester.UK
Posts: 394
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Cool

No such luck,West Coast.

The USAF has an atrocious record in the UK as far as airmisses go. Back in 1989 I had a near miss with an F1-11 from RAF Lakenheath over the Irish Sea. I could tell he was from Lakenheath because of the letters 'LN' on the tail. When I talked to the ATC Unit, they stated that they had attempted to contact the aircraft for 20 mins through various agencies but to no avail. In the end he had violated 3 Danger Areas, 2 Aerodrome Traffic Zones, a Military Air Traffic Zone, a Special Rules Zone connecting the UK mainland to the Offshore Gas Fields plus 3 seperate air-misses.

We never got an acknowledgement or apology and the pilot probably never even got a rap on the knuckles. But in the UK there's an incident every few months. The one niknak refers to involved a pair of F-15's and a B757 with over 240 pax and crew and, as with all the others, the USAF just trawl out the line
"We'll hold an internal inquiry" and nothing is ever heard about it again. They don't have a good reputation this side of the pond. Sorry.
Pontious is offline