§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the aircraft near-miss involving a Caledonian Airways Tristar and a glider at a height of 2,500 feet at approximately 14.10 hours on 1 June eight miles south-west of Newcastle-upon-Tyne over Currock hill gliding site.
§ Mr. NorrisThe responsibility for the safety regulation of United Kingdom civil aviation rests with the Civil Aviation Authority.
All air miss reports in United Kingdom airspace, involving civil or military aircraft, are investigated initially by the joint air miss section of the National Air Traffic Services, which is a joint CAA/Ministry of Defence organisation.
They are then examined by the joint air miss working group (JAWG), an independent committee drawn from a wide cross-section of responsible civil and aviation bodies. The JAWG investigation is not a disciplinary procedure; its purpose is to serve the interests of flight safety by establishing the cause of the air miss in order to try to devise ways of preventing a similar occurrence.
I have drawn the hon. Member's question to the attention of the Civil Aviation Authority and have asked it to write to him direct when the investigation into the air miss which is the subject of the question is complete.