A passenger plane was just metres away from colliding with a helicopter over London's Stansted Airport.
The Ryanair plane had 178 passengers on board when an error by the co-pilot, who forgot to inform the captain that he had turned off the autopilot, caused a risk of a crash.
The plane, which was approaching Stansted Airport after a two-hour flight from Szczecin in Poland, was at an altitude of about 3,000 meters when the problem occurred in the cockpit. After a help with the flight control, the co-pilot handed over control to the captain to configure the plane for landing. However, the captain was unaware that the autopilot had been deactivated, writes A2 CNN.
This loss of control caused the plane to descend about 550 meters, until the captain realized the problem. He had entered a prohibited area without approval from the Control Tower. At that moment, a helicopter was flying just over 2 thousand meters high.
Investigators found that the plane was 300 meters above the helicopter and 1.7 miles away. After regaining control, the captain raised the plane back to 3,000 meters and completed the landing without incident.
This event bears eerie similarities to an accident that occurred in January 2024 over Washington DC, where a plane collided with a US military helicopter, killing 67 people.
The investigators' report shows that the co-pilot did not have sufficient experience and did not follow normal landing practice. (A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
MUND TE LEXONI GJITHASHTU
