(AP) NTSB: Pilot Error in Blair Fla. Flight

Associated Press
NTSB: Pilot Error in Blair Fla. Flight
Associated Press 01.04.07, 8:14 AM ET

The pilot of a commercial jet carrying British Prime Minister Tony Blair
and his family misjudged the length of an airstrip, causing the plane to
overshoot the runway at Miami International Airport last month, federal
investigators said.

The captain of British Airways (nyse: BAB - news - people ) Flight 209
told airport officials that he thought the runway ended farther away than
it actually did, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's
preliminary report. He stopped the plane when he saw red lights at the
runway's end and after the jet rolled into an overrun area and knocked
over runway lights, the report said.

No one was injured when the plane, traveling from London's Heathrow
Airport, landed on Dec. 26.

British Airways initially blamed the landing on poor lighting or construction.
Airline spokesman John Lampl told The Associated Press on Thursday that
he had not seen a copy of the NTSB report.

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