§ 105. Mr. Rankinasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish the results of the proposed inquiry into the near collision over Abbotsinch Airport between a Comet jet and a Dove aircraft, both carrying passengers, in the interests of maintaining public confidence in the air control system at Glasgow Airport.
§ Mr. JayThis incident is being thoroughly investigated under the procedure set out in paragraph 111 of the 359W White Paper on Aviation Safety (Cmd. 1695 of April, 1962). It is not the practice to publish the results of such inquiries into Airmisses, because this might inhibit both the reporting of such incidents and the processes of investigation into their causes, and hence the prompt initiation of any necessary additional safeguards against repetition. I regret that I cannot depart from the normal rule in this case. I think I can say, however, that it appears to have been an isolated case which need cause no loss of confidence, by either the airlines or their passengers, in the very high standards of our air control system.