BMI Baby flight in near miss in Majorca

Passengers on a BMI Baby flight to Majorca narrowly escaped with their lives when the pilot spotted another jet on the runway when coming in to land at Palma Airport.

The pilot pulled up sharply with only a hundred feet to spare. 146 people were onboard the aircraft.

Some passengers did panic on the abrupt pulling up:

'It was terrifying,' one said last night. 'We were coming in to land with the wheels down when the plane suddenly jerked upward and soared back into the sky.

'I'd say we were just a few seconds from touching down when the pilot aborted the landing.'

'It was a bit of a shock. For a few seconds we didn't know what was happening,' he added.

'We were pinned back in our seats. I could see fuel tanks on the ground ... we were that close. Then it all calmed down and the pilot told us what had happened.

'We circled once and then made the landing. Everyone was pretty relieved to get their feet back on the ground.'

A spokesman for the company said:

'He pulled away, following standard operating procedures, and circled the airport briefly before making a safe landing.'

It's not known whether air traffic control warned the pilot about the plane on the runway or whether he acted on his own initiative.

Is safety still top priority with low budget airlines?

It’s a well-known fact that while aeroplanes are stuck on the ground they aren’t making money, but with the pressure mounting on individual airline staff to reduce turnaround times is safety being compromised?

Low budget airlines such as BMI Baby have targets for ground staff to get the plane back in the air after only 25 minutes!!

With all this extra pressure on individuals are they really taking the proper time and care with checking the aircraft after it’s previous fight. Do tight timescales cause negligence and only brief checks rather than thoroughly checking a carrier?

True, airlines want the aircraft to be in the air as many times as possible with hundreds of paying passengers on board. But then it’s only a matter of time before a serious accident occurs.

And then what will the excuses be?

“A thorough safety check was compromised because we wanted to get the plane back in the air as quickly as possible to make more money”?

or “It was only a 2 hour flight nothing could have possibly happened to jeopardise safety”?

There are no excuses.

Take off fromBarcelona Airport 29th June.

Landing at Barcelona Airport Early Hours 23rd June

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