Sat, Dec 09, 2006
Aircraft Passes 56 Feet From Vehicle On Runway
A 737 operated by the
UK's Excel Airways missed a vehicle on the runway it was using
by only 56 feet according to an official report released Friday
from the country's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).
The flight was departing Manchester bound for the Greek island
of Kos with 190 passengers aboard in July 2003. The pilots were
unaware the runway they were using was operating at a reduced
length to allow for a team removing rubber deposits at the
departure end.
The reports says the pilots couldn't see the opposite end
of the runway because of a slight rise in the middle. It wasn't
until the aircraft cleared the rise that the pilot saw the vehicles
at the far end. By that time it was too late to abort the takeoff.
The pilots believed they cleared the vehicles with a good
margin.
The report found the crew were unaware of the reduced runway
length available and irregularities with the way the airport and
ATC handled disseminating information.
In fact, a day earlier, ATC directed three separate airliners to
go around after clearing them to land on the same runway. When
asked, none of the three crews were aware of the rubber-removal
operation, or the reduced runway available. After telling the tower
they couldn't accept a landing under the conditions, they were told
to go around and assigned another runway.
AAIB says while the aircrew was clearly at fault, procedures for
planning and managing future runway maintenance activities were
altered to address concerns the agency expressed to both the
operators of Manchester Airport and the National Air Traffic
Service.
The primary cause of the near-disaster according to the AAIB was
the flight crew did not realize the runway was operating at reduced
length despite being in possession of a NOTAM concerning the
work-in-progress, an ATIS broadcast relating to the
work-in-progress and ATC passing information on the takeoff
distance available.
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