Near miss as glider pilot f lew into path of plane

A GLIDER pilot flew into the path of a passenger plane after getting lost, a nearmiss investigation has revealed.

The captain of the airliner said there was no time to take avoiding action during the incident above Aberdeenshire, when the glider drifted four miles off course.

The Airprox Board said the pilot of a turbo-prop Bombardier Dash 8 plane was descending on October 24 last year when he saw two gliders at the same altitude, heading in the opposite direction and about half a mile off the port wing.

The captain later called the duty manager at Aberdeen airport. He confirmed that nothing had been seen on the radar and spoke to Deeside Gliding Club, at Aboyne, about remaining outside controlled airspace. The pilot of an ASK 13 glider involved in the incident said in a report that he had been much further south-east than he realised and did not see the near-miss.

He thought he was over Aboyne, but was in fact near Dinnet, around four miles away. The second glider did not come into conflict with the plane.

The investigation found that, with no consistent radar data, it was not possible to determine the minimum separation achieved between the two aircraft.

The gliding club has introduced new measures, including an enhanced airspace briefing for all visitors and ‘modern instrumentation’ including GPS-based navigation devices for club gliders.

The board said it felt that safety had been reduced but there had been no risk of collision and praised the club’s response.