Near Miss Involving Boeing 747-400 and Pilatus P3-05 at Frankfurt Airport

Incident Overview and Investigation Scope On June 22, 2007, a serious incident was recorded at Frankfurt Airport involving a Boeing 747-400 and a Pilatus P3-05. The German Federal Aviation Office (BFU) conducted a summary investigation under § 18 of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Act (FlUUG), focusing exclusively on the facts to prevent future accidents. The investigation did not aim to establish fault or liability. ## Sequence of Events During the final approach to runway 25R at Frankfurt Airport, the two aircraft came into close proximity. The minimum separation was 0.6 nautical miles horizontally and 300 feet vertically. The Pilatus P3-05 was operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) on a flight from Aachen to Würzburg. The pilot reported encountering a cloud bank on the northeast side of the Taunus region. While attempting to deviate southeast, the aircraft entered the clouds, and the pilot stated that his concentration was solely on flying the aircraft, leaving him unable to control altitude and heading. He later found a gap in the clouds with visible terrain below, flew a full circle through it, and noticed his proximity to Frankfurt Airport. To leave the control zone quickly, he turned east. Radar records from the air traffic service provider confirmed the Pilatus P3-05's eastward flight path. At 11:12 local time, the close approach occurred with the Boeing 747-400, which was on final approach to runway 25R. Audio recordings indicated that at 11:11:36, the controller issued a traffic information to the Boeing 747-400 regarding the Pilatus P3-05. At 11:11:43, the Boeing crew requested and was granted clearance to turn left. After the aircraft passed each other, the Boeing 747-400 returned to the glide path and continued its landing approach. The Pilatus P3-05 continued its flight to Würzburg. ## Personnel and Aircraft Details The 71-year-old pilot of the Pilatus P3-05 held a private pilot license under ICAO guidelines since 1994. He had 700 flight hours, including 558 hours on the Pilatus P3-05 type. His last medical fitness examination was valid until December 6, 2007. The two-seat Pilatus P3-05, first flown in 1958, was originally used as a training aircraft by the Swiss Air Force. The Boeing 747-400 is a four-engine long-range aircraft with a passenger capacity of 344. ## Meteorological and Operational Conditions At the time of the incident, ground visibility at Frankfurt Airport was over 10 km. The main cloud base was at 1,200 feet with heavy cloud cover. The wind was from 260° at 11 knots. Frankfurt Airport has two runways (07L/25R and 07R/25L) and one runway (18) used exclusively for takeoffs. The Boeing 747-400 was in radio contact with Frankfurt Tower, while no radio contact existed with the Pilatus P3-05.