HC Deb 04 March 1994 vol 238 c883W
Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will investigate the air miss incident that occurred south-west of Ebbw Vale on 19 January; how many air miss reports were made; how many were withdrawn; and what reasons were given for this.

Mr. Norris

The responsibility for the safety regulation of United Kingdom civil aviation rests with the Civil Aviation Authority. The authority has provided me with the following information about this incident:

  1. (i) Only one air miss report had been filed; this was by the commander in charge of one of the aircraft.
  2. (ii) The air miss report was subsequently withdrawn by the aircraft commander.
  3. (iii) the aircraft commander—correctly—withdrew his air miss report when he realised that, although the standard separation—five nautical miles, horizontally, or 2,000 ft vertically—had not been provided, there had in fact been no risk of the aircraft actually colliding.

An air miss is defined as a situation in which it is considered that an aircraft has been endangered by the proximity of another aircraft to the extent that a risk of collision existed. The decision fo file an air miss report appropriately rests with the commander of any aircraft involved. There are occasionally instances, such as this, when an air miss report is later withdrawn by the pilot who had filed it, when he realises that there had in fact been no risk of collision.

This loss of standard separation is, however, the subject of an active occurrence investigation by the CAA's air traffic control investigation section. When the investigation has been concluded a report on it will be circulated as part of a routine—monthly—occurrence publication. I will arrange for the hon. Member to receive a copy of this publication in due course.