Says "Real" Report On Incident Involving Blair's Plane Still Pending

In terms of proper British etiquette, it was a royal gaffe.

On Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board released what most assumed to be the Probable Cause report on a December 2006 incident at Miami International Airport, in which a British Airways 747 carrying then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair overran the runway after landing, taking out some runway lights in the process.

Not by complete surprise, NTSB report blamed the accident on pilot error... saying the jumbo jet's flight crew failed to take proper heed of their surroundings, overlooking the green lights showing them where to exit the runway.

Let's face it... that's not the single greatest revelation to ever come from an NTSB report (in fact, when we saw the report this week, we initially declined on reporting it due to lack of any real newsworthiness -- Ed.) But the story has since taken an interesting turn.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that on Wednesday, the NTSB pulled the Probable Cause report from its Web site. Agency spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said 'someone' at NTSB mistakenly posted the report too soon... before British aviation authorities had their chance to weigh in on the final version.

So, for the record... we still don't have the official report on why the plane's flight crew zigged towards the runway overrun area, instead of zagging towards the taxiway.

Lopatkiewicz adds the NTSB may stick to its original wording... or alter the report's final opinion. It will be curious, indeed, to see which way the report tilts.

FMI: Read The NTSB Factual Report