Fighter Jets Could Have Collided With Helicopter

Four United States Air Force F-15 Eagle fighter jets had to make an emergency climb from 500ft to 17,000ft to avoid a British Coastguard helicopter.

The incident occurred on March 3rd this year over Glen Feshie in Scotland's Cairngorm mountain range.

The Sikorsky S92 helicopter, flying from Inverness, was conducting a search and rescue mission and had set up a Temporary Danger Area (TDA) of 6 miles and 5,500ft.

The USAF formation however had created their flight plan before the TDA had been raised and then had failed to be informed of it before they took off.

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The Coastguard crew first became aware of the problem when they sighted an aircraft around 1.5 miles away.

They rapidly spotted three more F-15's approaching just half a mile away and the S92 pilot issued a radio warning. 

Upon receiving the call the Strike Eagle formation leader rapidly ordered his colleagues to exit their 'Low Fly Structure' and climbed sharply to 17,000ft. 

A subsequent investigation by the UK Airprox Board rated the risk of actual collision as 'Low' but new procedures around TDA alerts have been put in place. 

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