Fighter Jets Narrowly Avoid 'Catastrophic Mid-Air Collision'

A Royal Air Force tanker narrowly avoided a catastrophic mid-air collision with two US fighter jets, a report has revealed.

The pilot of the RAF Voyager claimed that a US F-15 fighter jet came within 50 meters whilst flying 16,000 feet above the coast of Norfolk.

The report stated that the F-15 jet ‘aggressively pulled the nose up in what appeared to be late avoiding action’.

The pilot said that the extent to which this was close to a ‘catastrophic mid-air collision’ should not be underestimated.

The Voyager, based at RAF Brize Norton, had just completed a refuelling of two Typhoon aircraft.

According to the UK Airprox Board’s investigation, the ‘fundamental cause’ of the near miss was that the US jets flew into conflict with the Voyager despite being required to give way.

Although there were also substantial contributory factors, including a lack of prompt information from Swanwick’s air traffic control unit, due to one controller’s high workload.

There was also a misunderstanding between the F-15 crews and ATC regarding the planned operating area of the aircraft.

The UKAB concluded that the incident was a serious one, stating that ‘luck had played a major part’ in the collision being avoided.