Planes come close to mid-air collision over London

London - A business jet and a passenger plane came close to colliding over London in July, a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has stated.

The AAIB report stated that a German-owned Citation 525 was cleared to depart London City Airport, initially climbing to 3,000 feet. “After a delay of five to six seconds the crew read back: ‘Four Tango departure climbing four thousand feet’,” says the report. The tower did not notice the mistake in the cleared altitude. Around the same time, a Boeing 777 Turkish Airlines passenger plane, heading to Heathrow Airport, had been cleared to descend to 4,000 feet. The Citation was carrying two crew members and one passenger, while the Boeing had 16 crew members and 232 passengers. The planes ended up about half a mile away from one another, with the Citation only 100 to 200 feet below the Boeing. The report said that the Turkish flight crew had not followed the commands of three collision-avoidance warnings which were generated in short succession, and the Citation did not even have the equipment to provide the warnings. The report stated that the Turkish captain was not flying the aircraft at the time,instead a pilot-in-training was behind the wheel. The only person to see the business jet pass the Boeing was the pilot in the observer seat. The Citation's captain said he had the passenger plane in sight all the time but at first he thought they would be well above it. The AAIB made five safety recommendations. These included that the Civil Aviation Authority consider whether all aircraft operating in certain parts of London carry TCAS ll equipment, which generates collision-avoidance warnings; and that it be ensured that Turkish Airlines training complies with Airborne Collision Avoidance Training guidelines. It also made suggestions on London City Airport communication with aircraft.