What happened
Two separate incidents occurred at Piotr-Trybunalski Airport (EPPT) during circuit flight operations in November 2020.
On November 5, 2020, six aircraft were performing circuit patterns, including three Tecnam P2008 models flying at 215 km/h and three Tecnam P2006 models flying at 250 km/h. Due to heavy radio traffic between the aircraft, the air traffic controller limited communications to position reports only on the straight sections of the circuit. This reduction in communication frequency hindered the ability to maintain proper separation, resulting in a dangerous loss of separation between two aircraft during the approach to landing. The crew of one aircraft subsequently aborted the approach and climbed out to the second circuit.
On November 10, 2020, a similar situation arose while six aircraft were operating in the circuit. An additional aircraft arrived at the airport from point ECHO (east) and was granted permission to join the circuit at the third turn. This influx of traffic made it impossible to maintain the required separation between the aircraft already in the pattern.