A PASSENGER plane with 124 people on board was forced to take evasive action after two French fighters strayed into its airspace.
The EasyJet flight en route from Bristol was about eight miles from Inverness and making its final approach when the Mirage 2000 jets got too close.
At their closest, the EasyJet A319 and the fighters were 2.6 nautical miles apart.
The incide
nt happened on 20 September last year at 2,100 feet over the Moray Firth, but an aircraft proximity report has just been published as it took time to identify the fighters involved.
A report by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) said the Mirages, which had been taking part in a training exercise, had taken off from RAF Lossiemouth and were trying to enter the Tain bombing range in Ross-shire when the incident occurred at 10:21am.
The EasyJet pilot did not see the French jets but received an "avoiding action" instruction from air traffic control.
The UKAB said it was concerned the Mirages had flown within ten nautical miles of Inverness without talking to the air traffic controller (ATC) there.
They said the Mirage leader was talking at the time to the Tain range, trying to get permission to enter. "The board considered that he should have remained slightly further away from Inverness if too busy to make the call to Inverness ATC," the report said.
The EasyJet pilot's main concern was that he had been given a heading towards the high ground of the Cairngorms.
The board unanimously found there had been no risk of collision between the aircraft.
A spokesman for Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, which operates Inverness Airport, said its air traffic controller had followed the correct procedure.
He went on: "We do have concerns, which are well-known and shared, over the amount of uncontrolled airspace around Inverness, given our proximity to the military range at Tain and two military bases.
"There is good co-ordination and liaison is of the highest order, but occasionally we get aircraft, such as the Mirages in this case, which come into the system, as well as other civil craft such as microlights."
He said there would be significant improvements when a new £3.2 million radar system comes into operation later this year.
• A full-scale emergency was sparked at Stornoway Airport yesterday after reports of a plane experiencing engine problems. But the Highland Airways flight from Inverness landed safely.
The full article contains 418 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
