European aviation body checks claims of daily near-misses

Dec 9, 2008, 15:56 GMT

Berlin - A study which found one near-miss happens every day in the skies over Germany, and that some pilots react incorrectl in such situationsy, is to be examined by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Academics said Tuesday they set up a listening post on the ground to see what happens when the airborne collision avoidance system (ACAS) triggers in two jets flying straight at one another. ACAS devices negotiate with one another.

Typically, one pilot is told to descend and the other to pull up so that the planes may pass one another safely.

But Peter Form of the Technical University of Braunschweig said that in one-seventh of cases, pilots did not correctly follow the automated instructions. He said that was one reason for so many near- collisions.

His team observed 2.5 million flying hours over northern Germany from April 2007 to August 2008. It detected an average of slightly more than one near-miss situation per day.

'That is one too many,' said professor Form. He said the study is now to be extended to the whole of Germany with five listening posts. In the past ACAS warnings had not been monitored at all, he added.

He said EASA, based in Cologne, has asked to be shown the findings.