§ Lord BOYD-CARPENTERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking with the Spanish Government in connection with the deficiencies in the Spanish air traffic control system which contributed to the death of 146 people in the accident to a Dan-Air aircraft in the Canary Islands in April.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, I repeated a Statement concerning this accident on 10th June. Until such time as all the evidence has been weighed and the final report is available it would be inappropriate to draw any conclusions. The United Kingdom accredited representative who is participating in the Spanish investigation has conveyed his views on the involvement of the Spanish air traffic control system to the Commission of Investigation. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade has already drawn the attention of the CAA to the concern expressed in another place when he made the Statement which I repeated.
§ Lord BOYD-CARPENTERMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply, does he accept that the urgency of the matter is very much related to the onset of the holiday season and the fact that considerable numbers of our fellow countrymen will be likely to be attempting to use this airport? Is it not apparent from the Statement which he himself repeated in this House that had there been surveillance radar to assist the air traffic controllers at this airport 1358 the chance of this accident happening, given the adjoining high ground and bad weather conditions, would have been considerably reduced?
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, to accept my noble friend's suggestion would be, I think, to pre-empt the outcome of the investigation. As my noble friend will know, these investigations are very technical in their nature, and I think it would be a mistake to reach a premature conclusion.
§ Lord WHADDONMy Lords, does the noble Lord agree that it is at least as important to keep British air traffic control equipment up to standard, and can he say how quickly the distress and diversion unit in the United Kingdom will be put on automatic direction finding and visual display units working on civil aircraft frequencies?
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, that is a most interesting supplementary question, but I think it hardly arises from the Question on the Order Paper.
§ Lord BESWICKMy Lords, reverting to the original Question, would the Minister give an assurance to the House that there is a sense of urgency here? If he would express that feeling again to the Spanish authorities it might allay some of the apprehension that is to be found in quite responsible quarters.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, I am quite sure that the Spanish authorities are well aware of the need to proceed as urgently as possible, hut not, I think, at the expense of conducting a thorough and proper investigation.
If I may just comment on the point made by my noble friend earlier about surveillance radar, I think I should perhaps make clear that surveillance radar is not primarily or indeed at all designed for terrain clearance purposes, which I think was in my noble friend's mind, but rather for air traffic control separation purposes. Terrain clearance of course remains the responsibility of the captain of the aircraft.
§ Lord BOYD-CARPENTERYes, my Lords, but will my noble friend, from his own very considerable practical experience 1359 of aviation, confirm that one of the advantages of surveillance radar as a tool of air traffic controllers is that it enables them to be immediately alerted if aircraft appear—whether as a result of or contrary to their instructions—to be getting into danger and gives them an opportunity to warn them? In view of the bad safety record of this particular airport, will my noble friend have this matter very much in mind?
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, I am not sure my noble friend is right in referring to the bad safety record of this particular airport. He is, no doubt, thinking of the collision which occurred a year or so ago between two aircraft which were already on the ground. The fact is that had radar been available at this airport the aircraft in question would almost certainly have been following a quite different path to the procedural path that it was in fact following.