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| Date: | Wednesday 27 August 1997 |
| Time: | c. 13:50 LT |
| Type: |  Boeing 757-236 |
| Owner/operator: | British Airways |
| Registration: | G-BMRD |
| MSN: | 24073/166 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1988 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | near Ashtead -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
While attempting to land in London SAB 603 alerted ATC to a missed approach. ATC alerted SAB 603 that another flight (AFR 813) was departing London. ATC in turn made SAB 603 turn 310 Degrees to avoid the flight. Meanwhile another flight (BA818) a Boeing 757-236, G-BMRD, was nearing SAB 603. The ATC would notice the 2 flights getting dangerously close. The controllers would contact their respective aircraft and require them to change course. The aircraft were as close as 200ft vertically and 0.16 nm Horizontally. Due to cloud cover neither aircraft saw each over.
The Investigation would reveal these casual factors:
1. Coordination between Air Arrivals and Air Departures during the missed approach of SAB 603 was incomplete, Primarily because neither Air Departures nor the mentor advised Air Arrivals that BAW 818 was airborne, But also because Air Arrivals did not obtain Agreement with Air Departures before turning SAB 603 to the right
2. ATC procedures at the time of the incident for the integration of missed approach aircraft into departure flow placed too great a reliance on potentially fallible human communication at a time of increased workload.
3. The LHR ATC instructions relating to missed approaches was not sufficiently clear or comprehensive regarding the Co-ordination required and the definition of a conflicting aircraft.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422ef10ed915d1371000235/5-98_Airprox_C_Boeing_737-200_and_Boeing_757.pdf
https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10364103 (Photo)
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 11-Aug-2025 19:37 | Justanormalperson | Added |
| 11-Aug-2025 19:37 | Justanormalperson | Updated [Accident report, ] |
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