A North Sea helicopter pilot was forced to take evasive action when he feared he would collide with a British Airways plane while on a routine flight to the Britannia Platform.
It has emerged that a 'relatively new' air traffic controller had failed to inform the EC225 pilot that the plane was flying within the vicinity, the inexperienced controller believed the North Sea platform radio operator would have informed both pilots of there flight paths and proximity.
The EC225 helicopter pilot said he was 'surprised' to see the aircraft flying so closely after being told there was nothing the area.
As the plane came into view the helicopter pilot deemed the BA146 aeroplane which was flying in a north-westerly direction at a low level was too close and dropped his helicopter to 300ft above sea level to avoid the aircraft.
The incident has been investigated by the UK Airporx Board, who have decided there was no serious risk of a crash and graded the incident at ‘C’ level, meaning there had been aircraft proximity in which no risk of collision existed.
The board’s report added: “After much debate, they decided that the cause of the incident was that the EC225 pilot had been concerned by the proximity of the BA146.
“The discussion on risk ebbed and flowed as members noted the vastly different perceptions by the pilots; ‘high’ from the EC225 pilot and ‘none’ from the BA146 pilot.
“In the end, the board concluded that both pilots had seen each other early enough that no risk of collision had existed; timely and effective actions had been taken to prevent the aircraft from colliding.”
NATS, the body responsible for air traffic control systems have held there own internal inquiry over the incident.
The inquiry found that the air traffic controller who was responsible for feeding information to both pilots was “relatively new” and assumed the platform would be responsible for letting them know what was going on in their immediate air space.
No one from the organisation could be reached for comment last night.
The Britannia Platform, is situated around 130 miles north-east of Aberdeen.
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