Near-miss at Birmingham Airport
By IANSMonday, January 17, 2011
LONDON - A passenger plane came within “inches” of crashing into a private light aircraft at Britain’s Birmingham Airport, a media report said Monday.
Air safety sources say the Flybe flight was taxiing ready for take-off when a Belgian privately-operated TBM 700 aircraft landed “dangerously” close to the aircraft, the Daily Mail reported.
The incident happened at 3.35 p.m. Jan 12.
An investigation is underway Monday into the near-miss, which was caused by a runway mix-up.
A source at the airport, who did not want to be named, claimed the Flybe pilot “estimated the planes were inches apart”.
“We can confirm there was a safety incident at Birmingham Airport,” Civil Aviation Authority spokeswoman Alexandra Coleman said.
Flybe has refused to confirm where the Flybe plane was headed, or how many passengers were on board, the report said.
