London - Two British passenger aircraft came within about 112 feet of a collision while an air-traffic controller was supervising a trainee, a report found yesterday. The near-miss, at Heathrow Airport in April last year, involved a British Airways Boeing 747 on its landing approach coming within 112 feet of an Airbus A321 waiting to take off.
The Airbus, with 89 passengers on board, was on the runway ready for take-off to Brussels when the British Airways aircraft, carrying 381 passengers from Japan, was instructed to go round it at a late stage of its approach. During this procedure, it was estimated to have passed just 112 feet over the Airbus.