Folgende Info aus einer englischen Publikation vom 18.02.01 ist sicher für alle Leser interessant, auch wenn´s nicht den VIE betrifft. Der Vorfall hat sich am 17.02.01 zugetragen und dürfte den Flug OS 460 (Morgenmaschine aus LHR) betroffen haben :
Two jets came within seconds of disaster in back-to-back near misses at London's Heathrow Airport, it emerged last night, according to The Mirror newspaper.
The packed aircraft were moments from landing on a runway occupied by another plane at Heathrow Airport.
The near catastrophes within a couple of minutes happened when the pilot of a departing Austrian Airlines A320 jet failed to respond to instructions to take off, the newspaper said.
His plane lay in the path of a British Airways 747 from Bombay with 385 passengers on board and a Virgin Atlantic 747 from Washington carrying 245 which were seconds from touchdown.
Only intervention by an air traffic controller who shouted: "Go around! Runway not clear!", averted disaster on the tarmac at 7.00am.
A British Airways pilot told The Mirror: "This shows what pressure controllers are under and the ever increasing fine line between safety and utter disaster."
A spokesman for Austrian Airlines said "minor technical issues" had stopped the plane taking off.
Thx an Helmut Bierbaum
Peter Felix, Heini Mandl