Baar,26.11.2018

Near-miss involving three light aircraft reported

It has been reported that a near-miss incident involving three light aircraft took place over Baar last April.

According to information provided by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board, a one-seater light aircraft towing a one-seater glider took off from the Hausen am Albis airfield, just over the cantonal boundary with Zurich, at 2.30 pm on Saturday 7 April. At the same time, a twin-engine, six-seater, light aircraft with a pilot and one passenger was making its way from Buochs in the canton of Nidwalden to Zurich airport. It was at 2.34 pm, when the towing aircraft and glider were above Baar, that the pilot of the glider noticed a fast-moving plane to his right and duly informed the pilot of the towing plane about this by radio, after which both the towing plane and glider tried to draw themselves to the attention of the Zurich-bound aircraft to them by repeatedly wiggling their wings but to no avail, the latter passing above the towing plane and glider, only 20 metres separating them.

When subsequently questioned about this, the pilot of the plane from Nidwalden said he had noticed air traffic around Hausen am Albis but had not noticed the glider being towed. While all three planes involved carried collision-warning equipment, no such warnings were given, a matter still under investigation.