BBC

Thursday, 24 August, 2000, 09:43 GMT 10:43 UK

Hong Kong air miss investigated

An incoming Cathay Pacific flight was forced to abandon its landing Aviation officials in Hong Kong are investigating an incident in which two Boeing 747 airliners narrowly avoided a collision at the territory's Chek Lap Kok airport.

The incident occurred last Sunday when the pilot of a Cathay Pacific cargo jet landing on a flight from Taiwan last Sunday saw a Lufthansa passenger plane taking off from the same runway.

The Cathay pilot reportedly did not believe the German aircraft would clear the runway in time so he aborted his approach, circled the airport and later landed on another runway.

The Lufthansa plane, bound for Frankfurt, took off without incident.

Correspondents say it is at least the third such case this year at the airport.

Safety 'not compromised'

In May a Hong Kong government report revealed there had been 28 air traffic incidents since the new airport opened two years ago.

Of these 15 had arisen through inaccurate information provided by air traffic controllers.

However a Civil Aviation Department official said the decision to send the Cathay aircraft on another approach circuit did not appear to be a traffic control matter.

She added that safety was not compromised in the incident, classified as a "missed approach".

Earlier this month a jet from the Hong Kong-based airline Dragonair was involved in what is termed a "loss of standard separation incident" with a China Southern Airlines jet when the two came within 176m of each other after taking off from Chep Lap Kok.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), August 24, 2000