Airprox, Airbus Helicopters EC175 B, PH-OSF and General Dynamics F-16AM, J-513, North Sea
This occurrence concerned a situation where helicopter traffic under instrument flight rules and high speed military air traffic under visual flight rules in airspace class E, where only IFR flights are separated from other IFR flights, came into each other’s proximity. The F-16 pilot was not aware of the position of the helicopter and besides that the F-16 was not equipped with an airborne collision warning system. These circumstances entailed an unacceptable risk of mid-air collision. The Dutch Safety Board points out that the circumstances of this occurrence together with the findings of the earlier investigations show that the need to separate high speed military traffic under visual flight rules in uncontrolled airspace from other traffic still exists. The in earlier investigations identified.
This serious incident is described extensively in the Quarterly Aviation Report over the 4th quarter of 2020.
