A320/B734, vicinity London Gatwick UK, 2012

A320/B734, vicinity London Gatwick UK, 2012

Summary

On 4 August 2012 an Easyjet Airbus A320 on approach to London Gatwick was given landing clearance in IMC for a runway occupied by a Boeing 737-400 waiting for take off which heard this transmission. Despite normal ground visibility and an unrestricted view of the runway, ATC failed to recognise their error and, after two unsuccessful attempts to advise them of it, the commander of the 737 instructed the A320 to go around which it did. Only upon hearing this did the controller realise what had happened.

Description

On 4 August 2012, a Boeing 737-400 being operated by British Airways on a scheduled passenger flight from London Gatwick to Marseilles was lined up for departure on runway 26L when ATC were heard to issue a landing clearance for the same runway to an Airbus A320 being operated by Easyjet on a scheduled passenger flight from Geneva to London Gatwick which was still Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) on final approach. After two unsuccessful attempts to inform ATC of the error, the commander of the 737 instructed the A320 to go around. This was acknowledged and actioned from approximately 400 feet aal by the A320 crew.

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