A Ryanair flight carrying British tourists returning to Manchester came dangerously close to colliding in midair.
After detecting a private jet encroaching on its flight path, the pilot of the Majorca-to-UK trip was obliged to abruptly swerve off course.
When the near-miss occurred, the Boeing 737 had just taken off from Palma Airport and according to radar tracking, it was within 100 feet of the other aircraft.
While in the same airspace, commercial aircraft are required to maintain a strictly enforced spacing both vertically and horizontally.
They must maintain a minimum vertical separation of 1000 feet and a minimum horizontal spacing of three to five miles.
According to a preliminary assessment, the Ryanair flight was just 100 feet vertically and one mile horizontally away from the small plane.
With the two planes’ trajectories converging, the commercial jet, which had just taken off, was moving at 150 mph and speeding quickly. It is believed that the two aircraft were only 20 seconds away from crashing.
Instead of being informed by air traffic control or any of the onboard warning systems, as should have happened, the Ryanair flight crew only turned away from the second private jet, a Cirrus SF50, after observing it out of the cockpit.
The May 28th flight’s passengers are said to have been unaware of the close call, and both aircraft made it to their destinations without incident.
The event is the subject of an inquiry by Spanish aviation officials.
According to a Ryanair representative, the crew of the flight from Palma to Manchester acted right away when they noticed a converging light-type aircraft. As a consequence, the aircraft stayed well clear and the flight continued to Manchester.
“The event is still being investigated, and we are keeping in contact with the appropriate competent authorities to support the related processes,” the statement reads.
The close call occurred at Palma, Majorca, as the Boeing 737, which was loaded with tourists returning from their vacation, was climbing from the main runway.
According to an analysis of air traffic control data and radar readings, the Spanish-registered Cirrus plane had taken off from the adjacent Son Bonet airstrip and was ascending through 1,000 feet.
When a pilot suspects they are too close to another aircraft, they are taught to always turn right.
‘The Captain and First Office did precisely what they are trained to do,’ a source at Ryanair said. They responded to the issue with awareness and followed all of their training.
The investigation will look at the instructions given to the two jet captains, and Spanish air traffic controllers are likely to take the brunt of any culpability.
It won’t be the first time that Spanish controllers are held accountable for a Ryanair near-miss.
When two Ryanair planes collided on the same runway two years ago, Malaga Airport controllers were held accountable.
As one flight landed and the second took off, the two jets carrying more than 350 tourists passed one another within 500 meters.
A close call was avoided because an air traffic controller at Malaga Airport neglected to alert the leaving plane that another jet was due to land as it was speeding down the runway, according to an examination into the incident.
Instead of being informed by air traffic control or any of the onboard warning systems, as should have happened, the Ryanair flight crew only turned away from the second private jet, a Cirrus SF50, after observing it out of the cockpit.
The May 28th flight’s passengers are said to have been unaware of the close call, and both aircraft made it to their destinations without incident.
The event is the subject of an inquiry by Spanish aviation officials.
According to a Ryanair representative, the crew of the flight from Palma to Manchester acted right away when they noticed a converging light-type aircraft. As a consequence, the aircraft stayed well clear and the flight continued to Manchester.
“The event is still being investigated, and we are keeping in contact with the appropriate competent authorities to support the related processes,” the statement reads.
The close call occurred at Palma, Majorca, as the Boeing 737, which was loaded with tourists returning from their vacation, was climbing from the main runway.
According to an analysis of air traffic control data and radar readings, the Spanish-registered Cirrus plane had taken off from the adjacent Son Bonet airstrip and was ascending through 1,000 feet.
When a pilot suspects they are too close to another aircraft, they are taught to always turn right.
‘The Captain and First Office did precisely what they are trained to do,’ a source at Ryanair said. They responded to the issue with awareness and followed all of their training.
The investigation will look at the instructions given to the two jet captains, and Spanish air traffic controllers are likely to take the brunt of any culpability.
It won’t be the first time that Spanish controllers are held accountable for a Ryanair near-miss.
When two Ryanair planes collided on the same runway two years ago, Malaga Airport controllers were held accountable.
As one flight landed and the second took off, the two jets carrying more than 350 tourists passed one another within 500 meters.
A close call was avoided because an air traffic controller at Malaga Airport neglected to alert the leaving plane that another jet was due to land as it was speeding down the runway, according to an examination into the incident.
The error was attributed to air traffic controllers at the Costa del Sol airport, one of the busiest in Spain, according to a study by the Spanish Aviation Authority.
According to the report, it was just the most recent instance of jets coming too close to one another during takeoff and landing.
Following an inquiry, new safety measures were put in place at Malaga Airport to stop future occurrences of this kind.
The incident report made it very evident that the Ryanair flight crew was not at fault.
According to the investigation, the event happened when an aircraft was given permission to land on a runway that was already being used by another aircraft that was about to take off, without observing the required distance.
A significant aspect in the event is thought to have been poor planning on the part of the air traffic controller, who used a space between two landings to approve a takeoff.
Given the urgent risk created by the loss of regulatory separation, it is also believed that the air traffic controller’s lack of decision-making (to postpone takeoff, for example) played a role.