EASA will analyse near mid-air collisions involving military aircraft

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) received a request from the European Commission to investigate a series of near mid-air collisions between European passenger aeroplanes and military aircraft during recent months. These incidents have taken place over the sea at the border of the European Union (EU). As reported by different EU member states, the transponder of the military aircraft were inactive and it was not possible to establish a radio contact with them. This may have caused an immediate safety hazard to civil aviation.

João Aguiar Machado, Director General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission declared: “the support of EASA will be essential in further identifying appropriate solutions and follow-up measures to address such events at the European level”.

Patrick Ky, EASA Executive Director said: “this is a very serious issue. We will consult and interview all the relevant civil and military bodies in order to gather the necessary information to complete our analysis”.

The analysis will aim at identifying the causes of the near mid-air collisions and provide recommendations on how to minimise the potential safety impact of these events on civil aviation. EASA will deliver its recommendations to the European Commission in March 2015.