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Jumbo jet in 'near-miss' incident Heathrow Jumbo's landing 'error'
(about 17 hours later)
The pilot of a jumbo jet with 450 passengers ignored autopilot landing instructions when he realised they had veered off course, a report said.The pilot of a jumbo jet with 450 passengers ignored autopilot landing instructions when he realised they had veered off course, a report said.
The plane's autopilot had initially failed to pick up the correct approach to Heathrow Airport, forcing the pilot to take temporary manual control.
The Boeing 747 flew over parts of west London at heights of 1,200ft (366m) rather than the normal 2,300ft (701m).The Boeing 747 flew over parts of west London at heights of 1,200ft (366m) rather than the normal 2,300ft (701m).
The plane's autopilot was pushing the nose down and gave the pilot landing instructions which he did not follow in order to avoid a crash. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the incident posed minimal risk.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is continuing its inquiry. But campaigners opposed to the level of air traffic using Heathrow say the incident last January highlights the dangers of more planes using the airport.
Campaigners opposed to the level of air traffic using Heathrow say the incident last January highlights the dangers of more planes using the airport.
'Tragedy averted''Tragedy averted'
John Stewart, of the campaign group Hacan ClearSkies, said: "The instruments were telling the plane not to land at Heathrow but to land in west London.John Stewart, of the campaign group Hacan ClearSkies, said: "The instruments were telling the plane not to land at Heathrow but to land in west London.
"If he (the pilot) had followed those directions there would have been a major tragedy. Thankfully he took matters into his own hands and averted that tragedy.""If he (the pilot) had followed those directions there would have been a major tragedy. Thankfully he took matters into his own hands and averted that tragedy."
It is not yet clear why the incident happened but it is thought that the Israeli-registered plane lost touch with the Heathrow guidance beam. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report into the incident said: "The flight crew recovered the aircraft to the ILS (Instrument Landing System) glidepath manually and landed normally.
Councillor Serge Laurie said: "It's worrying because a plane that should have been flying at 2,600 ft was actually flying at 1,200 ft. "Investigations revealed no fault, either on the aircraft or in the ground equipment, to explain the incident."
"Cloud cover was 1,500 ft so you can tell that the pilot would have had limited time to respond. It added the visibility below the cloudbase at 1,500 ft was good.
"It's clear that either the computer on the plane wasn't working properly or there was a fault with the landing system on the ground." Warning systems on board the aircraft - which were working properly - would have told the pilots the aircraft was descending too close to the ground and would have told them to climb, the report said.
It added no other aircraft landing at Heathrow that day reported any problems in finding the correct approach signal.
The Department for Transport said there was never any risk of a crash because the pilot took action which air traffic control was aware of.The Department for Transport said there was never any risk of a crash because the pilot took action which air traffic control was aware of.