Sheer luck prevented an air disaster over an RAF airbase after an “over-loaded” air traffic tower allowed a civilian aircraft to fly over the base as a fast jet came into land.
The Hawk T1 flew within 100ft of a fisheries protection aircraft after the plane was given permission to cross the RAF Valley airspace before the early morning incident last July 1.
An enquiry into the near-miss said luck played a major part in preventing a crash and concluded that the air traffic controller had been unable to cope under the high workload.
The Civil Aviation Authority's Airprox Board (UKAB) said it provided a warning about running base watches “light”.
RAF Valley, Anglesey, has now taken steps to change staffing procedures to reduce the chance of this ever happening again.

The FAA denied claims Friday by the air traffic controllers union official that the Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control facility — the busiest in the nation — is understaffed and has inexperienced personnel.
The number of fully certified and trained controllers at the Miramar- area complex decreased by 26 percent over the past six years, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
In 2004, the Miramar-area facility had 239 certified professional controllers, with seven more in training. The total fell to 217 in 2005 and to 199 in 2006, with 23 trainees. Currently, the facility has 176 certified controllers and 82 trainees, many with no prior controller experience with the military or FAA, the union asserted in a statement.
Without such backgrounds, controllers are at a “severe disadvantage” for successful training at the San Diego TRACON complex, according to the association.

The Labour Court has said air traffic controllers who ground the country’s three main airports to a halt last week, should be given the 6% pay increase recommended under the last national wage agreement.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) had claimed it was in not in a position to pay the increases at the present time due to financial difficulties it experienced as a result of the downturn in the aviation sector.

It claimed last week’s strike had been sparked by its refusal to pay the increases. However, the controllers’ union IMPACT claimed that was incorrect and that the strike was due to IAA suspending 14 staff for refusing to work with new technology.

A separate ruling by the Labour Court, issued on Thursday, found the new technology represented normal and ongoing change and the controllers should not be given extra remuneration for working with it.

Air traffic controllers whose strike grounded 20,000 air travel passengers earlier this week have agreed to a full resumption of normal working hours with no threat of industrial action of any kind.

Following almost seven hours of talks at the Labour Court yesterday, the Irish Aviation Authority and the air traffic controllers’ union IMPACT agreed measures to avoid further disruption, and to process outstanding disputes.

The dispute came to a head on Wednesday following the suspension of 14 controllers without pay.

The agreement reached saw those workers restored to the payroll.

In the agreement, management and IMPACT acknowledged that a bona fide dispute existed between them.

Ireland's government should be tougher on striking "overpaid" public workers if it wants to help the country get out of the economic recession, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told CNBC Thursday.
Thousands of passengers were affected as the country's main airports in Dublin, Shannon and Cork were shut because of the strike which lasted four hours.
"The air traffic controllers are simply a bunch of overpaid, underworked public servants but they're typical for the problem in Ireland," O'Leary said.
He said traffic controllers' demands for a pay raise of 6 percent were unreasonable because they earn 160,000 euros a year ($224,000) and inflation is negative.
 
"Use the bloody law. We should arrest the air traffic controllers or better still, sack them," he said.

Air traffic delays are more than just annoying: On average, they probably cost the U.S. economy more than hurricanes do.
Most media reports focus on extended delays that leave passengers stranded in airports for days or trapped on the tarmac for hours, said Bob Maxson, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Mo. But the vast majority of delays are relatively minor and stem from localized weather events such as heavy rain, limited visibility or strong crosswinds, he reported January 19 at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society. These small delays nevertheless add up to big costs, he notes.

A labour dispute that has forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights at Irish airports on Wednesday following the suspension of air traffic controllers is likely to escalate, aviation officials said.
 
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) suspended controllers for refusing to carry out "normal assigned duties", prompting members of Ireland's largest public sector union IMPACT to take disruptive action, starting with mandatory union meetings.
 
Irish airline Ryanair said it was cancelling 48 flights on Wednesday, affecting more than 6,000 passengers, and former state carrier Aer Lingus said it had to cancel 64 flights as a result of the dispute.
 
"Significant numbers of flights will be disrupted and cancelled. These actions are likely to escalate," Liam Kavanagh, human resources director at the IAA, said in a statement.
 

The government plans to curb the salaries of Spain's 2,300 air traffic controllers to make the nation's loss-making airports more competitive, Public Works Minister Jose Blanco said.
The move comes after an audit of state-run airport management company AENA found that some controllers earned nearly 10 times more than Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, causing outrage in the recession-hit country.
Blanco said the government would slash the pay of the controllers to an average of around 200,000 euros (287,500 US dollars) per year from an average of 334,000 euros. This would make it possible to cut aviation taxes.
"The numbers speak for themselves. This is not efficient," he told reporters.
The audit found that 10 controllers earned between 810,000 euros and 900,000 euros a year, 226 earned between 450,000 and 540,000 euros, and 701 were paid between 270,000 and 360,000 euros.

Spanish air traffic controllers can earn a staggering £800,000 a year, despite holding numerous strikes over the past few years and causing hell for holidaymakers.
Many are earning up to ten times more than the Spanish prime minister, and more than 50 times the average salary in the country.
Just last month, passengers endured long delays because of staff shortages among controllers in the Canary Islands, while several weeks ago, two runways were closed at Madrid Barajas airport for the same reason.
José Blanco, the Minister for Development, has attacked the workers as 'privileged' and said he would replace air traffic controllers with automatic surveillance systems at the smallest airports.
The high salaries earned by the controllers is mostly made up of overtime on top of an already-generous package compared to their counterparts in other European countries, such as Britain.

Reports of airplanes hitting birds and other wildlife surged last year, including serious accidents such as birds crashing through cockpits and crippling engines in flight, according to an Associated Press analysis of new government data. More than a dozen states across two migration routes from Minnesota to Texas have seen the highest increases.

"Birds and planes are fighting for airspace, and it's getting increasingly crowded," said Richard Dolbeer, an expert on bird-plane collisions who is advising the Federal Aviation Administration and the Agriculture Department.