Ryanair Boeing 737 passenger plane nearly crashes into helicopter above Stansted Airport

The Ryanair flight had 178 people on board when a co-pilot forgot to tell the captain he'd switched off the autopilot - resulting in the near miss on 8 March. The aircraft was approaching the Essex airport after a two-hour flight from Szczecin in Poland and was at 3,000ft when the miscommunication in the cockpit occurred.

The co-pilot handed control to the commander so he could set up the computer for the descent. However, the 43-year-old captain was unaware the autopilot and autothrust were no longer engaged.

The loss of control led to the Boeing 737 to drop around 550ft before the error was realised. It was only cleared to descend 200ft and therefore fell into an altitude that was not cleared by Air Traffic Control.

At that moment a helicopter was flying at around 2,000ft in the airspace above Stansted. Air accident investigators found the plane was 300ft above the helicopter and 1.7 nautical miles across from it. Once the captain was back in control, the aircraft rose back to 3,000ft before completing a normal landing.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch report has now been released into the Stansted incident. It reported: “The co-pilot said that this was his first time he had handed over control during manual flight and that he did not know the precise call outs that were stated in the Flight Crew Operating Manual. Whilst he did not highlight the fact that he was manually flying he assumed the commander realised this.

“There was no formal reply stated in manual for the pilot monitoring however it is common practice in all areas of aviation to reply 'I have control', once control has been taken. Shortly thereafter, while the aircraft was still in the left turn, the commander noticed that the aircraft was descending and had descended about 550ft. He promptly took control and climbed the aircraft back to 3,000ft; the aircraft had descended 600ft in total during the descent.”

The report added: “On this occasion the defined parameters for a short-term conflict alert between the respective aircraft were not met and so the alert did not activate between [the [lane] and the helicopter. The National Air Traffic Services measured the closest point of approach between the two aircraft as 1.7 nautical miles (across) and 300 feet (up).

“The monitoring pilot is also responsible for monitoring the conduct of the flight, and whilst it is accepted that he may be heads down while completing some cockpit tasks, they should always allow themselves time to review the flight instruments from time to time. If his actions needed to be checked or carried out on his behalf, control of the aircraft should have been handed back over. This incident also shows that distractions and quick decisions can lead to a loss of control of an aircraft, even for a small period of time.”