Australia’s air crash investigator is examining a serious
incident at Perth Airport on Saturday the 28th April in which two Qantas 737s
narrowly avoided colliding on a runway. The near-miss, described as a “serious”
incident by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, forced a Sydney-bound
flight to abort its take-off after another Qantas plane that had just landed
appeared to be about to cut across its runway on its way to the terminal.
QF567, (operated by VH-XZM) which had arrived from Sydney, was alerted to its error by air traffic
control and had to brake so hard as it taxied to the terminal that some
passengers hit their heads on the seats in front of them.
 |
| QANTAS B737-838 VH-XZM (CN 44574) |
A Qantas spokesman
said the airline was reviewing the incident and was assisting the ATSB with its
investigation. Kylie Jenkins, who was on QF567, said most of the passengers on
the left side of her plane had a clear view of QF582 as it came towards them.
“We were stunned,” she said. “We had just landed and were taxiing off the
runway when I could see another Qantas plane taking off very close by and
coming towards us and suddenly the brakes were applied and my daughter Malia
bumped her head on the seat in front.” According to the ATSB’s initial report
on the incident, QF567 landed on runway 03 and was told to exit the runway at a
specified location, taxiway Juliet 2, then stop short of runway 06 – the runway
that was about to be used by QF582 for its take-off. At the same time QF567
left runway 03 at 2.42pm, air traffic control gave QF582 a take-off clearance
on runway 06. 582 was being operated by VH-VZL.
 |
| QANTAS B737-838 VH-VZL (CN 34194) |
But 20 seconds later the pilots of QF567 failed to stop at runway
06 as requested and appeared to be moving to cross it, into the path of QF582.
The air traffic controller told the pilots of QF582 to “stop immediately, stop
immediately, runway incursion ahead” and the pilots aborted the take-off.
One
second later the controller told the pilots of QF567 of their error, saying, “you
have crossed a stop bar and runway incursion – hold position.” Ms Jenkins said
the pilots of flight QF567 gave no explanation to the passengers of the
incident. The area where the incident occurred is known as a “hot spot” for
runway incursions, where an unauthorised aircraft, vehicle or person is on a
runway. The ATSB said the point that QF567 was supposed to have stopped at is
marked with a runway stop bar, which is used to prevent aircraft and vehicles
inadvertently entering a runway without air traffic control clearance. However,
another pilot said the crew could have been blinded by the sun at 2.40pm, given
it would have been pointing directly at them. “The ATSB will interview the
flight crews and controllers on duty in the Perth control tower, examine
recorded data from both aircraft and radar, review recorded communications
between the flight crews and air traffic control, and gather other relevant
information,” the ATSB said. “Should a critical safety issue be identified
during the course of the investigation, the ATSB will immediately notify
relevant parties so appropriate safety action can be taken.” A Qantas
spokesman said that its “Flight Operations team is reviewing what occurred and
are also assisting the ATSB with its investigation.”
Aircraft
Information
Operator:
Qantas
Aircraft: Boeing
737-838
Engines:
CFMI CFM56-7B26
Flight
Number: QF 567
Registration:
VH-XZM
Serial
Number: 44574
First
Flew: 19/07/2014
Age: 3 Years / 8 months
Aircraft
Information
Operator:
Qantas
Aircraft: Boeing
737-838
Engines:
CFMI CFM56-7B26
Flight
Number: QF 582
Registration:
VH-VZL
Serial
Number: 34194
First
Flew: 07/04/2011
Age: 7 Years / 1 month
Test
Registration: N1787B
Full story sourced from here,
Photos are mine.
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