Prince Philip was at controls

Press, 2 December 1981, Page 2

Prince Philip was at controls

PA , London Prince Philip was at the controls of the Royal plane which last week narrowly missed a jumbo jet carrying 200 passengers. Buckingham Palace said Prince Philip was flying the Royal Andover :at the time but said that he was accompanied by the "very experienced pilot of the Royal Flight and his co-pilot.” The Civil Aviation Authority will now investigate the incident, which could have ended in disaster. The Andover of the Queen’s Flight, which, the Prince was flying back from an official engagement in Manchester, could have ploughed into the 747 which was climbing at 300 miles an hour from Heathrow Airport. ; According to the “Daily Express,” the Prince made a major navigational error as he flew plast Heathrow on his way to Gatwick Airport, south of London. < Air traffic controllers at Heathrow told the Miamibound jumbo urgently to alter course upwards when they spotted the Andover on their screens. The two planes, although some distance apart, were headed for a collision course and the traffic controllers said the situation was a “risky one.” A pilot who overheard the radio exchange between Heathrow and the British Airways jet said the Royal flight was 1000 ft too low at the time of the near miss. “The two aircraft were possibly some distance apart but at those speeds it would still be classified as a risk situation,” the pilot said. Prince Philip has taken control of the ageing but immaculately kept Andovers all round the world on official engagements. He flies the planes whenever he can, mainly to keep up the hours he needs to hold a current pilot’s licence. Air traffic controllers are aware that a Royal flight is passing through by its code sign, but other than that it is treated as a normal flight.