SERIOUS AIR MISSES

Potential readers may not be familiar with the phrase Mandatory Occurrence Report. These reports have to be made when a potentially fatal incident is experienced on a civilian aircraft. The next stage is Air Crash Investigation which nearly always involves fatalities. The reports are investigated by the British Civil Aviation Authority soon after that event. Various experts are called in to evaluate exactly what happened and what steps need to be taken to try and ensure that it is not repeated. The final report is then published to all affected parties. This will include the appropriate Air Traffic Controllers or Engineers plus the report initially submitted by any Air Crew or Cabin Crew. The time scale taken to come to a proper judgement will obviously vary depending on the evidence provided.

It is pretty unusual for any long serving pilot to find himself in one such event in his total flying career. In my particular case I was fairly lucky to have survived five. It was not my intention to experience any. They were of course all different and all equally frightening for the pilots concerned, and only one of them was possibly noticed by my passengers, who were unaware of the reason for the sudden unusual movement of the aircraft.

 

 

 

 

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