Jumbo pilot avoided crash by defying air controller

A heavily laden jumbo jet arriving at Manchester airport with 219 people on board came "exceptionally close" to crashing with an airliner carrying more than 100 passengers, according to an official report published today.

Disaster was avoided after the pilot of the Boeing 747 ­ carrying 196 passengers and 19 crew ­ ignored the instruction of an air traffic controller and abandoned his landing when his plane was just 50 feet off the ground.

Investigators criticised the controller for failing to take "positive control" of the situation on 16 September last year, asserting that he may have pressed ahead with his potentially calamitous plan so as not to "lose face".

The controller seemed to be under stress at the time of the incident and was relieved from duty as a precaution, said the Air Accidents Investigation branch of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

The control tower official told investigators that the Singapore Airlines 747 was "surprisingly fast" as it made its approach to the runway being used by a BAC 1-11 that was "taking an age" to take off. The captain of the 747, which was travelling in the same direction as the departing aircraft, decided to "go round", avoiding a collision by gaining height and turning right. If the 747 had obeyed instructions it would have reached the runway at a time when the other airliner was "only some way along it".

The controller told investigators that he knew the situation was "tight" and reported experiencing some distortion in his perception of the time.

The Boeing, flying in from Amsterdam, came within 400 metres of the Italy-bound BAC 1-11 ­ which means the aircraft were within seconds of a collision. The crew of the BAC aircraft did not know how close they had come to disaster until they returned to Manchester.

The report said the incident began when an A320 was slow to vacate the runway, cutting down the time left for the inbound and outbound aircrafts.

The AAIB document said the controller had persevered with the plan despite the available information, which should have alerted him to the fact that it was "unworkable". The report said: "This over-adherence to a plan has all the hallmarks of a controller operating under stress. Past incidents have shown that in such situations individuals find it very difficult mentally to 'stand back', reassess their plans and make adjustments as necessary.

"There are various reasons for this. Sometimes people find it difficult to give up the comfort and reassurance of a plan, once formed. Sometimes they are already working to their full capacity and have few resources left to re-evaluate and amend existing plans. At other times they may be concerned about a perceived loss of face associated with having to abandon their chosen course of action."