Another near miss close to Newcastle Airport
04.12.07
An investigation has been launched after a potential near miss between a passenger plane and a military aircraft over the North-East, the Journal reports. The incident happened on October 8 when an Emirates flight to Dubai was about 40 miles north-east of Newcastle Airport and came close to a military plane. It was the 17th near miss involving military jets over the North-East in the past 6 years.
The Emirates flight, an Airbus 330 plane carrying 250 passengers, was travelling over the North-East coast at 14:00 on October 8, when it came close to the military jet. It was being guided by Scottish Air Traffic Control at the time. An inquiry has been launched by the UK Airprox Board into the incident.
A spokesman for the airline told the newspaper: 'We can confirm that an aircraft proximity event took place on October 8 involving one of our Airbus A330 planes and a military jet, 40 miles north-east of Newcastle Airport. However, an air proximity event does not necessarily constitute a "near miss".'
A spokesman for air traffic control company NATS said that they were not able to comment pending an outcome of the inquiry. There were 74 airprox incidents in 2006 involving commercial aircraft, but only 8% were classed as having a risk of collision.
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