'Air Near-Miss'

[HolyMoley]

How about this from the Mid Sussex Citizen, July 31st!

'Two planes had a near miss over Haywards Heath, believes a resident who witnessed the incident. Paul Lister was in his garden at Sergison Road, Haywards Heath, at about 10 in the morning when he saw two planes crossing paths.
He believes they were much nearer to each other than a widely publicised 'near-miss' over Brighton in the afternoon of the same day, July 20.
Mr Lister was unable to identify the planes, which later took their separate routes quite safely for their onward journeys.
But he remains convinced that the incident appeared to pose a more serious threat than the Brighton incident.
Mr lister said:'It is very difficult when you are looking up into the sky but the planes were quite low. If the planes at Brighton were said to be three miles apart I reckon you could measure the ones over here in metres.'
'They crossed over Haywards Heath but then headed down towards the coast. One veered to the left over Burgess Hill but by that time they had passed each other.':eek:

[PaperTiger]

Able to judge separation as 'metres', but not close enough to identify the planes. Idiot.

[Gonzo]

Is the sky suddenly 2 dimensional?

Gonzo.

[FlapsOne]

When does a 'near miss' become a 'near hit'?

[AMEX]

The Newspaper forgot to mention that the venerable Mr Paul Lister is a Borg Serial Number ACN-2356-25456/LR (modified GU), equipped with a target detection device mounted in place of the right eye.
The left eye is used for basic thermal imaging in a neighbourohood watch programme but to be upgrdaded as from next week with a SAFIRE II FLIR System. Once the SAFIRE II FLIR installed, Mr Paul Lister will be able to make use of a dual field of view optic and a high-magnification zoom. The system initally developped by the military for airborne use, will be slighlty modified to meet Mr Lister's stringent requirements. For example, when engaged in a gardening mission, Mr Paul Lister mounted with his three-axis gyro-stabilized SAFIRE II, delivering better than 20 microradian stability (at 400 Knts), will be able to determine with even more acuracy not only how low he has to kneel dow before extracting any worm (Wanted Organism Roaming Mutant) but also should he be able to track and determine range of the airborne fast moving targets over flyiing his house(Planes going in and out of LGW), thanks to the laser rangefinder.

Although the system is quite light and of reduced size, its design fits better SAR, Firefighting and Police Helicopter so some fine balancing will be required in order to keep Mr Lister's body in the upright position. Some sources suggest that if the trial is successful then a SAM missile launcher could be incorporated on the other side of ACN-2356-25456/LR (modified GU), therefore improving stability and capability.

With a hand on my heart, I say "Good Luck Mr Paul Lister, the world is behind you;))


:D :rolleyes: :D :rolleyes: :D :rolleyes:

[PPRuNe Pop]

Well done Amex. Brings it right into perspective I think.

:rolleyes: :confused: :D

[DrSyn]

HolyM, thanks for bringing this hot scoop to our attention. Clearly another cover-up here. AMEX, your analysis was superbe, in spite of the compromising photo of you and my wife at the last Gatbash!

We all know that aviation is a sure winner for journos-u-hate on a slow news day, and minor regionals suffer from the latter problem even more than the traditional Grub Street giants. So my first reaction was to enjoy the tosh. Then I remembered that many mainstream journos were blooded at regionals, by way of apprenticeship, so I looked a bit further.

This minor rag (http://www.mediamanual.co.uk/npdetail.asp?npid=119&nptitle=Mid%20Sussex%20Citizen&subcatid=37) claims a readership of 43872 and 1.45 readers per copy. Presumably, the article (http://www.midsussextoday.co.uk/fullstory.asp?storyid=17) was aimed at those 0.45ers, who might conceiveably believe it.

In fact the Mid Sussex Citizen is part of a veritable empire of publications belonging to Johnston Press Plc. Their noble mission in life states, "Johnston newspapers are quality newspapers produced by local teams of people dedicated to producing local newspapers that both inform and reflect the important issues of the communities they serve, thus encouraging a loyal, commited and valuable readership."

Such fine investigative journalism can only enhance the safety reputation already responsibly promulgated by the real press titans. No doubt the thousands of good folk who live within the MSC's catchment area, and whose jobs depend on aviation, would like to express their admiration to the author and editor of this excellent article.

Their address is: 7 South Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 4LE, West Sussex. Tel: 01444 452201, Fax: 01444 416241.
Email: [email protected]. I am sure they would appreciate the feedback.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Just like the people who ring us to say they've seen an horrendous airmiss when they've seen a Chipmunk at 1000 ft in the same area as a Jumbo at 10,000 ft. I promise you - an airline Captain did this to us at Heathrow once. Said he was driving over one of the Thames bridges (not sure which) and saw two a/c dangerously close. We assured him that there had been plenty of vertical separation but he was adamant that it had been super-dangerous and he would be reporting it in writing. I wonder if that loony is still about??

[pilotwolf]

Sounds Like he is alive and well and living in West Sussex!

:mad:

[AMEX]

Thanks DrSyn, I am pleased to see you enjoyed my review of the event. As a matter of fact and since the airlines don't seem to be smiling at me that much ;), I have been considering taking a position with the Daily Sun Express as an Aviation Expert (Most important source when incidents, accidents and non event happen/fail to happen :D).
Next time you will be reading comments made by the famous yet unkown "Aviation Expert", you will be able to tell:
Hey ! I know the guy. I have a picture of him and.... the charming Mrs Syn. Even bought him a few rounds which he has accepted most gracefully!!!!

Yep, the Aviation Expert will be I. Proud not to serve and to misinform the :rolleyes: public.;) :cool: :D

[DrSyn]

As one of our favourite Frogs, you should know that's Madam Syn, matey!

I do hope a few more will use the email link provided (above) to express their views to these tossers. Frankly, I am getting sick of Slow News Day Syndrome at our industry's expense.

[5milesbaby]

Obviously quite a guy if he also saw the one in Brighton so he could judge his separation comparison accurately. And as for 3 miles and metres, I think you'll find its 4800metres, or 4.8km. As for standard separation of 1000 ft vertically, thats approx 300 metres, take that to bed to think about.

[DrSyn]

Needless to say, I have not had a reply from Johnston Press other than an acknowledgement of initial receipt.

It reads, "Thank you for visiting the Johnston Press website. Your comments have been duely (sic) passed to the appropriate person."

Sums it all up, really.

[Elvis21]

I dont kn ow who is worse, this loser or the knob at the press for writing it:rolleyes:

[DrSyn]

Well, today I finally received this reply [proper names removed] :-

Dear[DrSyn],

Your note to our central office has been forwarded to me for reply. I take all the points you make in your letter and am glad that you recognise that the view of the authorities was clearly given.

However, that is no reason for not publishing such an item. There are grave concerns about air safety in the UK at the moment and it is right and proper that "the man in the street's" view is ventilated. I do not doubt what you say about the industry reporting to the authorities but in the current climate of unease, it is right and proper that we should report what local people say. Mid Sussex is under the flight paths into Gatwick and this subject is therefore highly relevant to our readers. A newspaper is one way that people can give vent to their concerns.

[Editor], Haywards Heath.

So there you have it! Publishing unsubstantiated stories that scare the public, made up by unqualified people, is a duty.

PS: Hang in there, AMEX. Only a matter of time, mon ami.

[AMEX]

Publishing unsubstantiated stories that scare the public, made up by unqualified people, is a duty.

A duty which also happen to be very lucrative.... From experience, before each flight I operate, I supply PAX with newspapers.
The selection is mine so I started by getting the Times, Indep, FT, daily mail, Express and Sun. Recently I have dropped the FT because no one has ever touched it (bear in mind my PAX aren't leisure travellers) so I replaced it by the.... Daily Star (another reference in matter of reading;)). Now it is the same for the Indep and I must say the Times remain in pretty good conditions too, despite 2 daily rotations.
:( Real news (or information), not necessarily made of sensationalism or gossip don't seem to attract much interest from the "Man in the Street" and the Journos know it all too well $$$.

Thanks DrSyn, looking forward to your command ;)

[Burger Thing]

Dear AMEX, I just read your Borg Story from the 4th of August. That's by far the funniest thing I've read hear on Pprune. Excellent, mate.

[AMEX]

<bowing to the compliment>
;)