Southwest plane narrowly misses Baltimore ambulance at takeoff in another airport near-disaster

n y post ^ | 03/22/2023 | Yaron Steinbuch

[BenLurkin]

The Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting, or ARFF, vehicle crossed Runway 15R at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) without authorization on Jan. 12, DC News Now said Tuesday.

The Southwest Boeing 737 had just been cleared for takeoff from the same runway and missed the ambulance by less than half the length of a football field, the outlet reported.

“The closest estimated horizontal separation occurred at a distance of 173 feet,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in new analysis of the harrowing incident.

The ARFF driver was told to “hold short” of the runway, but read back the instruction as “ARFF 439 crossing Runway 10 and 15 Right.”

[the OlLine Rebel]

What about the title implied anything that way?

[the OlLine Rebel]

The fault was with the ambulance.

As likely it would be in such a situation, anyway.

So, ask who the EMTs are.

[eyeamok]

At least emergency personnel were on the scene

[mikelets456]

Should be titled “Ambulance driving on runway, gets in the way of 737 on takeoff roll”.

[Boogieman]

“Face pic and name of that pilot, please.”

Why, you want to shame pilots who follow the instructions that the tower gives them?

[sjm_888]

Face pic and name of that pilot, please. How many flight hours did they complete before being loosed onto the world? The public deserves to know.

Why is that important here? You didn't read the article before posting, right?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The comments at the Post read like a bunch of FReeper comments.

The close call came to light after the FAA held an emergency summit last week in McLean, Virginia, to address a series of recent safety incidents and near-misses. There have been at least seven other close calls nationwide since December.

That's a lot. It would be instructive to see the historic number pre-DEI.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Didn’t say anything about airplane or ambulance having a right af way. I don’t read it as disparaging.

perhaps I just assume the ambulance is in the wrong because a plane was taking off. But it didn’t read “bad” to me.

[DCBryan1]

[IYAS9YAS]

A skirt wearing LGBTQ pilot of Somalian descent?

The pilot wasn't the one who screwed up.

[dfwgator]

[pfflier]

Newsflash...It ain’t the pilot that caused the incursion.

[pfflier]

I read the article as saying the ambulance driver was at fault for misinterpreting instructions from the tower.

Unfortunately the facts don't stop the uninformed.

[crusty old prospector]

It was the ambulance driver’s fault.

[EVO X]

There was a similar incident late last year in Peru. The plane hit the emergency truck during takeoff. Nobody died on the plane, but 2 people in the truck died..

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63698202

[proxy_user]

On a crackly radio, it is easy to mishear an instruction like “hold short”. Something more explicit like “STOP!” would probably have been more effective.

[noiseman]

Terribly written story; there was no “ambulance.” An ARFF truck is not an ambulance, it’s a specialized fire fighting vehicle (Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting). And as one other person correctly pointed out, aircraft ALWAYS have the right of way. Even if emergency vehicles, including the fire department and police, are responding to a plane crash on the other side of the airfield, they do not have the right of way over operating aircraft. In such an event, Airport Operations would be coordinating the emergency response and closing runways and/or taxiways as needed. But so long as a runway or taxiway is open, aircraft operating on it have the right of way over all other vehicular traffic.

I was an airport operations officer early in my career, so I have first hand experience with how this all works.

[martin_fierro]

QUICK SOMEONE CALL

[asinclair]

Saw a documentary about ground problems at airports. Runway incursions can include other planes, too.

One of the points made was to add signal lights to indicate when a runway is in use, so drivers and pilots wanting to cross a runway would know that it's not a good idea.

Part of the reason for the lights is to mitigate against an air traffic controller who loses situational awareness of the field. Accidents have been blamed on tower personnel being unable to see all of the runways and taxi ways out the window, in one case because an area light was pointed directly at the tower and blinding anyone looking at it.

For what it's worth.