Posted on 06/17/2015 6:47:12 PM PDT by Talisker
Confusion over similar-sounding flight numbers is under investigation as the cause of a close call between two airliners taking off on intersecting runways at Midway Airport, an aviation source said Wednesday.
A Southwest Airlines plane, Flight 3828, was cleared for takeoff on runway 31 Center on Tuesday night, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. As Flight 3828 began its takeoff roll, Delta Air Lines Flight 1328 also began rolling on runway 4 Right without clearance from the Midway tower, according to the preliminary FAA investigation.
Both planes were operating at full takeoff power, which is standard procedure on the Southwest Side airport's relatively short runways, the source said.
The controller directing both planes spotted the Delta plane's movement and ordered the Delta pilots to stop immediately, the FAA said. The Southwest pilots also hit the brakes. Each aircraft traveled about one-third down its respective runway, stopping 2,000 to 3,000 feet short of the runway intersection between 31 Center and 4 Right, the source said.
Before the incident, a Midway ground controller had notified both pilots about the similar and potentially confusing flight numbers of the two planes waiting to depart, and he advised the pilots to listen carefully to radio calls, according to tapes of the incident, which are on http://www.LiveATC.net
On the transmission, the tower controller is heard clearing Southwest Flight 3828 for takeoff. But when the Southwest pilot radios back confirmation, his voice is obscured, or "stepped on," by a dual transmission, apparently from Delta Flight 1328. During a dual transmission, each pilot hears only some of what is being communicated.
A second dual transmission then occurs, and seconds later, as the Southwest plane is accelerating down runway 31 Center, the Delta plane is also on a takeoff roll on intersecting runway 4 Right, sources said.
A controller abruptly yells, "Stop, stop, stop, stop!" A pilot says, "Aborting," and another pilot announces, "SWA stopping."
After both planes safely make an emergency stop short of the intersection, the Southwest pilot is heard on the tape asking the control tower whether he mishandled his takeoff clearance. "Were we the ones cleared for takeoff?"
The controller responds, "Yes, sir, you were. You were doing what you were supposed to be doing."
"Delta took our --. Delta was rolling also?" the pilot asks.
"He took your call signs," the controller says. "Somebody kept stepping on you. I couldn't figure out who it was, that's why I reiterated that it was you that I was calling for takeoff."
The controller is also heard providing an FAA phone number and advising the Delta captain to report a pilot deviation.
The Southwest plane taxied back to the terminal for a safety check because of overheated brakes from the emergency stop, the source said. The plane ended up leaving for Tulsa, Okla. where it landed safely, according to a Southwest spokesman.
The Delta crew also contacted its company, but the plane quickly got back into the departure line and flew out of Midway to Atlanta, officials said.
Delta released a statement saying that it was "fully cooperating with the FAA's investigation."
The Delta plane, a Boeing 717-200, is designed to carry 110 passengers. It was not immediately known how many passengers were on the plane. The Southwest plane was a Boeing 737, and had 139 passengers and five crew members on board, according to Southwest officials.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has investigated runway incursions at O'Hare International Airport in recent years, is expected to assign investigators to examine the incident at Midway, officials said.
Runway incursions involving planes taxiing on the airfield, taking off or landing are a top safety concern -- much more so than the risk of a midair collision -- and the FAA has worked with airports and airlines to reduce the danger at airports, officials said.
The FAA, as part of its NextGen air traffic modernization program, is developing a program to provide data communications between pilots and air traffic controllers in place of voice communications for many routine functions.
Data communications will improve safety by reducing communications errors that can occur during verbal exchanges, the FAA said, particularly involving pilots for whom English is a second language, as well as cut the time spent exchanging information and reconfirming it.
The new data system, which is likely years off, would also reduce delays, fuel burn and pollution, according to the agency.
at least once a week I have to modify flt numbers due to the same numbers operating in the same sector. Couple that with only only one tower freq for all runways at MDW, its no wonder txmissions were stepped on. Try calling Ground for sequencing at CLT at around 1600. Everyone an their brother is on .9 try to taxi..
Southwest wins agaim. Either lucky or good. Probably a combination.
They are supposed to, and probably did with the plane that was cleared. Sounds like the other one misheard it in the cockpit.
Error with the pilot, not ATC, probably.
Because the controller was American. U.S. controllers use double digit numbers consistently to avoid other number confusions.
The question that should be asked is why so many airlines actually do this to themselves at their own hubs. It is frighteningly common.
Lucky. You forgot about all the times they run off the end of the runway.
OK, I know this was the actual headline, but why is this focusing on Southwest when the Delta pilot was in the wrong?
A possible disaster averted. Nice to know we have some goobermint employees that take their jobs seriously.
“Why couldn’t the Flight Controller say “three-eight-two-eight” and “one-three-two-eight”? And wait for confirmation? “
He heard the SWA pilot confirm but someone unknown was stepping on him. That someone unknown was the Delta pilot.
Wins? Wins what?
On some United flights there’s a channel for passengers to listen in on cockpits to tower communications. They seem to ID the flight by saying United 1459 or like Delta 1520 or similar. Always they mention the carrier name and then the flight number and the pilot has to respond back in the same way.
I fly Southwest whenever possible in the States. Best rewards program of any them, as far as I can tell.
Delta made a MISTAKE possibly due to confusion of the numbering verbalization. “Wrong” is a misrepresentation of the whole problem.
Force of habit probably.
[A possible disaster averted. Nice to know we have some goobermint employees that take their jobs seriously.]
That’ll change with the new Affirmative Action controllers just hired.
It read to me like everyone with the exception of the Delta pilots did an excellent job, and that’s why a disaster was averted.
You’d think there would be a better way than ancient analog radio these days.
If an air disaster had occurred it would have been similar to the two 747s that collided with one another on the runway at Tenerife on March 27th 1977 in the Canary Islands. 583 people died.
Two Jumbos Collide In Canary Islands Crash of the Century
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX—6ee7nsA
More about it here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster
“You’d think there would be a better way than ancient analog radio these days.”
Been years since I was in a tower but it would seem that some of the data tower could be transmitted automatically to the planes verifying they are at the required position and have the proper clearances.
You could still have a voice ‘handshake’ before executing a takeoff.
?TEXTING?;)
IIRC, Tenerife was covered with dense fog. The tower could not see the two 747’s when he gave clearance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster
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