Airprox over Brighton ??

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

Capital Radio were reporting a "near miss" over Brighton this morning. Any basis in fact or is this another example of the best of British "journalism" ? ;)

[Avman]

Heard it on BFBS this morning. Given, I think, as 3.5 miles. That (for me) is a non event! There must have been a shortage of death & horror stories I guess.

[Bern Oulli]

Likewise on Meridian TV last night. 15 seconds from disaster and all that guff.

http://www.meridiantv.com/artman/publish/article_414.shtml

if you really want to know.

Meridian made great play of " the female air traffic controller......." (my italics).

[Biggin Koksy]

Nice to see Meridian know their geography these days!!

"Planes avoid mid-air collision by seconds over Kent
By Malcolm Shaw
Jul 22, 2002, 11:10am


The near miss happened in the sky over Brighton at a quarter to two last Friday afternoon. "

Brighton is now in Kent I see.

[Mr_Grubby]

I don't believe it.

I have found a Pprune thread that dosn''t have an opinion from Scott H. Voigt in the Grand old US of A.

Mind you, it is early days.

Mr G.

[Numpo-Nigit]

Whilst the NATS "moles" who seem to leak these incidents to the media (often within minutes of the event) may believe that they are somehow acting in the public interest, I wish that they would reflect on some less obvious results of their actions.

In any major ATC incident, regardless of cause or culpability, there is a significant emotional impact on those directly involved. There will be a combination of shock, fear, worry, guilt, embarrassment, self-doubt and blame. At such a time the controllers involved need both a thorough investigation and the support of their colleagues and family.

What they do NOT need is a serious of inaccurate and emotional headlines and soundbites in the media. Such things merely add to the stress levels of those involved.

In this incident the media have been making a major play of the fact that a female controller was involved. How long will it be before some leaked information inadvertently identifies the actual individual controller and they awake to find the media camped on their doorstep. That is not an acceptable outcome, and I urge the mole (or moles) to consider the potential harm that their actions can cause to their colleagues.

Whilst the release of airprox data to the media some eighteen months post-event is an excessive time lapse, I feel that the media having detailed knowledge even before the end of the shift is redressing the balance too far!

[Bern Oulli]

Spot on Numpo.

[mysteryman]

Hi all

Right

Firstly Numpo you are BANG ON

I also am sick of the bashing we are getting in the press and mainstream media (as i have posted in the past)
If the meida has been accessing this site (and i am told they are)
then WHY IN THE HELL DO YOU NOT REPORT NUMPO'S POST
sorry but this is starting to get way beyond the joke or
a harmless release of information to Joe Public

We are a SERVICE here to provide the best we can
and as a service industry sometimes things do not go to plan
We have accountability for this and WE ALL KNOW IT
This should not mean 'moles' running to press because things aren't the 'ideal way'
If you are not happy LEAVE
you should be able to get another job and we will happily help you pack your knives (once removed from our backs)
You are not helping
you are contributing
Enuf

MM

:cool: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[sony backhander]

fair points nump, but if you knew who it was.....
besides she came out came quite well considering

[canberra]

im fairly certain that stringers(freelance journalists) are using scanners to listen out for any incidents. when i was at the raf rcc at edinburgh we had several stringers who would ring us up the moment they heard the word rescue, no doubt there are some who listen out for the phrase"i would like to report an airmiss" or something like that. the only phrase worse than that is " i am ejecting".

[shortfinals]

When an airprox has been filed, the very basic details of it (date, location, types involved but not airline names) are posted on the CAA website. But usually the press gets hold of something before it goes up on the noticeboard. How?

There's a press feeding frenzy on airproxes right now because, as the Mail has discovered, sex or fear on the front page sells newspapers, especially because of the midair over Germany and the fact that all the once-a-year fliers are just about to set off for their whiteknuckle ride to their holiday destination. This is just exploitation of the public. So whoever's feeding the journos who are wrecking people's holidays to boost sales, please stop it.

The Mail's technique is to say that the aircraft were "seconds away from disaster". All pilots and controllers know you could say that about any two aeroplanes that were correctly separated by 1,000ft as their tracks crossed - if they were prepared to misrepresent the situation. It's like saying that, on a single-carriageway road when you're driving the kids to school, a car comes past in the opposite direction. You could say that the two cars are a millisecond away from disaster as they pass. It would give you a headline, however misleading.

Most of the airproxes that the Mail and co get are losses of separation but don't involve collision risk. But they don't let that fact get in the way of a good story - they use the "seconds from disaster" routine.

Whoever's doing it, don't ruin somebody's holiday for whatever perverse reason, please.