Investigators probe third near-miss at Sydney airport
A training session was underway inside the Sydney Airport control tower on Sunday when two passenger jets came dangerously close, just hours after a separate near-miss.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating a previously unreported incident involving two Boeing 737 planes: a Virgin flight bound for Perth and a Qantas plane en route to Uluru. It is the third safety incident at the airport in recent weeks.
The two planes reportedly stopped about one kilometre from each other. Supplied
On Sunday, a Virgin 737 was cleared to take off at 10am. But as the pilots accelerated, they saw a Qantas 737 crossing the runway right in front of them.
The Qantas crew reported they had also been cleared by air traffic control to cross.
ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said the crews on both flights identified the conflict moments after the clearance was given.
“The Virgin flight crew discontinued their takeoff shortly after spooling up their engines and air traffic control cancelled the clearance at about the same time,” he said.
Mitchell noted that the two planes were separated by about one kilometre and confirmed that an investigation was launched as soon as the safety concern was reported.
“This is our third investigation into an incident involving an aircraft [at Sydney Airport] over a two-week period.”
He added that training in the control tower at the time may explain why it took so long to notify officials, as the event might have initially been classified as a “training incident” rather than an immediate safety concern.
The Virgin pilots slammed on the brakes, coming to a complete stop about 1 kilometre from the intersection just as air traffic control radioed to cancel their take-off clearance.
“The incident occurred when a Virgin Australia 737 was cleared by air traffic control for take-off from Sydney’s runway 34L,” the ATSB said in a statement.
It’s the third serious runway incident at Australia’s busiest airport in as many weeks. iStock
“As the crew applied thrust for take-off, they observed a Qantas 737 crossing the runway ahead of them on Taxiway Lima.”
It is the third serious runway incident at Australia’s busiest airport in as many weeks.
The close call happened only hours after another incident at 7.20am that same morning.
A Jetstar Airbus A320 was forced to hit the brakes on the tarmac to avoid a towed Qatar Airways Boeing 777.
The sudden stop knocked a flight attendant off her feet, resulting in minor wrist injuries.
Two Airservices Australia staff members have since been stood down over that incident.
Just weeks earlier, on July 27, two Qantas planes nearly collided after air traffic control cleared a Boeing 737 from Queenstown to cross a runway as a QantasLink flight from Canberra was touching down.
While acknowledging similarities between the three incidents, Mitchell stressed they would be treated as isolated cases.
He noted that in most instances, it was the “well-trained and well-qualified pilots” who identified the risks and halted the aircraft.
The ATSB is investigating a previously unreported incident involving two Boeing 737 passenger jets: a Virgin flight bound for Perth, and a Qantas plane en route to Uluru. iStock
“It is a concern to us that it even got to that stage.”
“In all three cases, a line of defence kicked in, as it should, to stop this situation from escalating.
“What we know is that three incidents have occurred that shouldn’t have occurred. We need to understand why and what we can recommend, ensuring we don’t see a reoccurrence.”
Mitchell said that flight incursions are becoming a concern at airports worldwide.
“We see about 60 of them a year in Australia, generally though they’re not at major airports, and they’re not with large high-capacity regular public transport.”
On Monday, Transport Minister Catherine King summoned Airservices Australia chief Rob Sharp to address the string of incidents and ongoing air traffic controller staffing shortages.
“The delays and disruptions we have seen at Sydney Airport over the last three days have been unacceptable,” King said, calling for improved rostering practices to address controller fatigue and unplanned leave.
ATSB investigators have begun interviewing air traffic controllers and flight crews, and are gathering recorded flight data as part of their investigation.
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