F15 / B752, en-route, South East of Birmingham UK, 2000

F15 / B752, en-route, South East of Birmingham UK, 2000

Summary

On 22 November 2000, near Birmingham UK, a dangerous loss of vertical and lateral separation occurred between a Boeing B757-200 being operated by Britannia Airways on a passenger flight and a formation flight of two F-15Es being operated by the United States Air Force (USAF).

Description

On 22 November 2000, near Birmingham UK, a loss of vertical and lateral separation occurred between a Boeing B757-200 being operated by Britannia Airways on a passenger flight and a formation flight of two F-15Es being operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The serious loss of separation took place in Class A airspace in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) and was investigated as a Serious Incident by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB UK, being judged to have been too dangerous to be examined by the routine AIRPROX review process administered by the UK AIRPROX Board.

It was established that the second aircraft in the formation had not heard, and therefore not actioned, an ATC instruction to climb to FL110 to deconflict with the airways traffic. The separation between the passenger aircraft and the second F15 was estimated to have been less than 116 m horizontally at the same altitude.

Investigation

The following are extracts from the UK AAIB Report of the Investigation:

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