Introduction
On 31 August 2013 at 09:27 UTC, a serious incident occurred at Geneva Airport (LSGG) involving a Cessna P210N, registration HB-CKH, operated by Groupe de Vol du Léman S.à.r.l., and an AVRO 146-RJ100, registration HB-IXT, operated by Swiss European Air Lines as flight LX0434 with call sign SWR49A. The incident was classified as an ICAO Category A Airprox, with a minimum horizontal separation of 1850 m and vertical separation of 1000 ft.
Sequence of Events
The Cessna P210N departed Geneva at 07:58 UTC for a visual flight over the Alps. On its return, the pilot planned to arrive via points SE (Port Noir) and GE (Nations Unies), then overfly the concrete runway to join the circuit for the grass runway. At 09:25:23 UTC, the pilot contacted Geneva Tower and reported approaching point SE. At 09:26:10 UTC, while the Cessna was between SE and GE, the controller instructed the pilot to overfly the threshold of runway 05 concrete and report on downwind for runway 05 grass. The pilot acknowledged the instruction but did not change heading. Shortly thereafter, the controller cleared SWR49A for takeoff from runway 05. Just before rotation, the captain of SWR49A sighted the single-engine aircraft and continued the takeoff. At 09:27:10 UTC, the Cessna overflew the runway at an altitude of 2400 ft above the B taxiway, approximately 1850 m ahead of the departing aircraft.
Contributing Factors
The investigation identified two contributing factors: different procedures published in the Air Traffic Management Manual (ATMM) and in the documentation available to pilots, and the high speed of the Cessna before overflying the runway.