A serious incident occured at Paris CDG Airport between a United Boeing 787-10 and a Easyjet A320 due to ATC error.
On the day of the occurrence, landings were carried out on runway 09L and take-offs on runway 09R (configuration facing east of the north doublet).
The controller did not have direct visual contact with the thresholds of runways 09.
A few minutes before the event, two planes had landed on runway 09L and were maintaining their position on the ramp before crossing runway 09R due to the landing of Air France’s Boeing 787 on runway 09R.
Two planes were at the D5 holding point, including the EasyJet Airbus A320, ready for departure on runway 09R.
On first contact with the crew of the United Airlines Boeing 787 on an ILS approach on runway 09L, the controller in the LOC position made a slip and cleared the crew to land on runway 09R instead of runway 09L .
The crew, nevertheless wishing to dispel the doubt on this authorization which implied for them to read back the landing clearance by adding in particular the words “Understand” and “Sidestep for 9 right” while awaiting ” a possible correction of the clearance by the controller.
The controller did not check the crew’s readings. The crew continued the final approach in manual piloting, towards runway 09R.
The controller cleared the crew of the Airbus A320 to line up on runway 09R. The crew checked that the final approach axis for runway 09R was clear and saw the Boeing 787 which they estimated on final on runway 09L. He started rolling for the line-up. Before turning to line up with the runway centreline, the crew checked the final 09R centreline one last time and saw the Boeing 787 for runway 09R.
This was at a height of 300 ft and 1300 m (0.7 NM) from the threshold. He questioned the controller about the presence of the Boeing 787 on final and faced with the imminence of a potential collision, the crew of the Airbus A320 asked the aircraft on final to go around.
The crew of the Boeing 787 having visualized the Airbus A320 on the runway aborted its approach. At the same time, the controller confirmed the go-around instruction and the RIMCAS alarms were triggered. The Boeing 787 flew over the Airbus A320 at a height of approximately 300 ft.