Pilot error blamed for near-miss at airport
Jennifer Dudley
TWO planes narrowly avoided a collision at Brisbane Domestic Airport when one veered from its flight path, a report released yesterday found.
It found a domestic plane and an Airbus, both filled with passengers, came within 152m of each other at the airport on May 20.
The near-collision occurred when the co-pilot of the plane overshot its flight path and failed to correct direction of the plane immediately.
The pilot had been distracted by bad weather, including a strong tail wind, but soon realised the plane's path needed to be corrected.
The pilots of the Airbus were advised to change their route to miss the plane, and the two aircraft narrowly missed one another.
Another report released by the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation yesterday could not determine the cause of a helicopter crash in which one person died.
The helicopter landed and took off from a ship, 32km east of Gladstone, at 1.13am on February 26.
But after the helicopter took off it hit part of a crane on the ship, spun out of control and hit the water.
The helicopter pilot survived the accident with minor injuries, but his passenger died.
The pilot said. the crane had swung around to hit the helicopter, but the ship's crew said the crane operator was out of the crane when the accident happened.
The report found that too many factors, such as wind and sea swell, were not known and neither version of events could be confirmed.
The Courier Mail 17 Dec 99 Page 2
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