Was this a near miss?

[Ian Geary]

Morning,

I've just flown to Aberdeen this morning on flight ezy871. At about 6:45 my kid points out of the window asking"what's that?"
Another jet had crossed our path, coming from 11 o clock to 5 o clock. The con trail was about 50 feet above our altitude.

This happened over the Humber. I am curious to if this is considered "normal" or was a near miss.

Can people advise a good website to check out other flight paths?

Thanks

Ian

[Dr Jekyll]

50 feet would be a definite near miss, I suspect you would get some turbulence if they were really that close.

Try Flightradar24 to look at flight paths.

[Prawo Jazdy]

You'd probably be very surprised how far away things are which look very close in the air. Also, if you had really been neglected by a controller (pretty unlikely as even if they're off the ball there is a system to alert them of traffic that is going to lose separation), the chances are very high that both aircraft would have TCAS, which would give the pilots avoidance instructions to stop you getting that close.

So basically, the answer to your question is 'probably not'. If it had been, it would have been automatically recorded and would be investigated, so you can rest easy

[Ian Geary]

Ok thanks chaps. I'll check that site out. There was no evasive action. The was clearly visible, but I suppose I couldn't make out windows on it, so it could have passed in front of us a short while before.

Ian

[5150]

Near hit, I'd say.....

[All that jazz]

Ian Geary said:

Morning,

I've just flown to Aberdeen this morning on flight ezy871. At about 6:45 my kid points out of the window asking"what's that?"
Another jet had crossed our path, coming from 11 o clock to 5 o clock. The con trail was about 50 feet above our altitude.

This happened over the Humber. I am curious to if this is considered "normal" or was a near miss.

Can people advise a good website to check out other flight paths?

Thanks

Ian

It appears you imagined it all as the flight went nowhere near the Humber. It flew to the west of me, and I'm in Leeds.

[All that jazz]

The other plane was JAI233, a Jet Airways (India) A330 enroute Toronto to Amsterdam which was 1000ft above you and you were over Worksop at the time.

Edited by All that jazz on Friday 23 September 09:49

[essayer]

Worth remembering that contrails will move in the wind which can be appreciable at higher levels.

[FurtiveFreddy]

It is very difficult to estimate range, altitude or distance without some sort of referencing system, measuring device, or a great deal of experience.

Ask a sniper.

[Ian Geary]

Thanks for the shots. I have zero experience of judging heights or distances like this. The con trail appeared as if it was just above us, and the plane only seemed slightly above our "plane".

I was looking out of the right side, and saw a large river which I assumed as the Humber. Again, its interesting to see how the distance on the ground differs from an aerial view.

My faith in aviation has been restored!

Ian

[simoid]

It does look fking close on the screenshots

[schmunk]

Ian Geary said:

I was looking out of the right side, and saw a large river which I assumed as the Humber.

Presumably the Trent.

[Ian Geary]

I should have said estuary- the North sea was easily in view. Having said that, despite growing up in a "Severn Trent" water area, I only realised recently that they flow in completely opposite directions.

Thinking about this some more: if the planes were 1,000 feet apart, that's say 300 ish yards. Now, most A roads have 100 yard markers approaching them.

Given we must have been closing at around 600mph ish, I reckon the site I saw is worthy of a raised eyebrow (or maybe even two).

What was really surprising was that we had nearly 6 hours in Aberdeen before it rained....

Ian

[All that jazz]

Ian Geary said:

I should have said estuary- the North sea was easily in view. Having said that, despite growing up in a "Severn Trent" water area, I only realised recently that they flow in completely opposite directions.

Thinking about this some more: if the planes were 1,000 feet apart, that's say 300 ish yards. Now, most A roads have 100 yard markers approaching them.

Given we must have been closing at around 600mph ish, I reckon the site I saw is worthy of a raised eyebrow (or maybe even two).

What was really surprising was that we had nearly 6 hours in Aberdeen before it rained....

Ian

It's all in radar coverage so there's nothing to worry about it. If you've ever been 3 miles from the end of an airport runway (London City excepted), the height you see the planes coming in to land is roughly 1000ft above you (assuming the elevation of where you are is the same as the airport's) so that's more than adequate vertical separation.

Edited by All that jazz on Friday 23 September 16:46