British Airways flight seconds away from mid-air disaster

The Johannesburg-bound flight from Heathrow was suddenly forced to climb to avoid an Argentinian passenger jet.

Aviation insiders said the planes had allegedly been put on to the same flight path by French air traffic controllers.

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The danger was so great that the BA 747's automated collision avoidance system was triggered, prompting the pilot to take emergency action high over Marseilles.

The system triggers an audible alarm, with a loud and insistent instruction to "climb, climb, climb".

The BA captain took immediate evasive action to climb steeply and bank right to avoid the other plane, an Aerolineas Argentinas 747, near the Mediterranean.

Once the emergency was over, the captain went into the cabin to calm passengers. BA later confirmed there had been 292 passengers and 18 crew on board its plane.

One BA eye-witnesses told colleagues: "It was a very close run thing. The two aircraft were put on the same flight path by French air traffic control in Marseilles.

"Passengers at the rear of the aircraft saw the other plane approaching and were very frightened. The captain took evasive action by going into a steep climb and turning right.

"Afterwards, when things had calmed down, the captain left the flight deck and went to the rear cabin to reassure the passengers and pacify them."

The incident happened on Saturday, September 29, but has only now come to light.

BA was yesterday reluctant to go into detail about the near-miss, short of confirming that it had happened. Insiders said it had been "hushed up".

A long-haul aircraft such as a Boeing 747 would typically fly at around 37,000ft. Aircraft usually have to be five miles apart horizontally and with a 1,000ft difference in altitude to reduce the risk of a mid-air smash.

A reduction in either distance will trigger what aviation officials call a "loss of separation" - known to ordinary fliers as "a near miss".

Another insider said: "French air traffic control is said to be to blame for putting them on the same flight level on a collision course. It happened a few weeks ago, but has been hushed up."

BA declined to say at what altitude or on what bearing the two planes were when the near-miss occurred.

A spokesman said: "Flight crew on the BA55 from London Heathrow to Johannesburg received a TCAS (traffic collision avoidance system) warning while on route.

"Our crew are trained to deal with such an event and they took the required action.

"Safely is paramount to British Airways and we would never compromise it. Our aircraft are fitted with TCAS to ensure that should this type of event occur the flight crew have plenty of warning to take avoidance action.

"We have filed our air safety report. The actual investigation is subject to French Air Traffic Control jurisdiction. There was no issue following the TCAS warning."

Aerolineas Argentinas confirmed it had a record of "an incident" involving an Airbus A340 travelling from Rome to Buenos Aires.