HUNDREDS of British tourists are breathing a huge sigh of relief after two planes were involved in a near-miss at Malaga airport. 

Aviation authorities have announced that an incoming Ryanair flight from Leeds came within 150 metres of a Glasgow-bound Jet2 plane.

The pilot of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 was forced to abort its landing and take evasive action at the last minute because the Jet2 plane – also a 737-800 – was still on the runway.

The two planes were carrying a total of 363 passengers and crew and Spain’s Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission is now investigating.

Despite taking place on September 17, an initial report has only just been made public.

The report states, the planes experienced what is known as ‘a loss of separation’ at 1:20pm local time as the Ryanair flight was coming in for landing and the Jet 2 flight was taking off.

However, a spokeswoman for Ryanair denied there was a ‘near-miss’ and insisted it was routine ‘go-around’ flight procedure.

 

 

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15 COMMENTS

  1. These idiots controlling the skies over Spain. Most likely too busy working out how to spend their extortionate overtime and salaries or planning their next strike. The poor people on the planes nearly paid a terrible price.

  2. As a spanish airline pilots let me give my 2 cents;

    1) A go-around maneuver, its something common, its practiced a lot in the simulators, and its happens more often than people thinks.

    2) I have to admit sadly but trully spanish ATC is the worst in Europe by far..lack of method and good training. Having said that, its improving but very slowly

  3. You have to admit, superfer, that a go-arounds might be common, but not because of loss of separation, but these are probably more common in Spain than elsewhere, most likely as a result of your second point.

    In Madrid in September an aircraft was cleared to land on a runway occupied by a vehicle, in July at there was a near-collision of aircraft descending into Barcelona and also a serious runway incursion, and a near collision on finals into Palma in May… Not something that fills me with confidence when I fly through Spanish airspace.

  4. The loss of separation occurred after the Ryanair did the go-around as the Jet2 then became airborne. Too early yet to blame Spanish ATC as details have not yet been published. We don’t know if the tower controller misjudged whether there was time for the Jet2 to get airborne ahead, we don’t know if the Jet2 delayed commencing his takeoff roll longer than normal. Until the facts are known let’s not start the blame game.

  5. I was a passenger on the Ryanair craft from Leeds. As we came in to land and almost at the touchdown point suddenly had to power up and head to the left of the runway climbing steeply. We could see the Jet2 plane out of the window on my side (right hand seats near the rear) and believe me it was very close. They broke to the right as we continued to bear left on probably full throttle.
    The pilot reacted as he is trained to and explained what had happened as we circled round to rejoin the approach traffic stating that the runway was not cleared sufficiently to allow a safe landing.
    Thank you to the pilot, his crew and their professionalism.

  6. I was in the Ryanair flight from Leeds and we were just preparing to land when suddenly the engines were back on full throttle and we were climbing very steeply back into the air. This was a scary time for everyone on board and especially myself as I am a very nervous flyer. It was obvious from the rate in which we climbed that something serious had happened. The only thing I would say is that Ryanair just apologised for a “slight delay” and did not check if their passengers were ok…when some were clearly distressed. After reading the report it is clear that this was a very close near miss and it scares me just to read it.

  7. Yes they did explain what had happened when we were circling round….the point I was making was during this scary time they did not check upon landing if people were ok…just an apology for a delay. Not sure this makes a difference to the fact that there was an error on someone’s part that could have resulted in the loss of life

  8. As I remember it, we pulled back on full throttle. The crew told us to remain in our seats and await further information. After a few minutes(presumably when the captain had moved away from the airport and maintained the airv=craft at a safe altitude) the captain did come on and told us what had happened. He stated that safety is always priority and that they had gone around due to another aircraft on the runway. he then advised that we were to make another approach and did not anticipate any further problems.

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