Posted on 09/29/2005 2:20:58 AM PDT by zipper
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - An America West passenger jet taking off from Las Vegas missed hitting an Air Canada jet by about 100 feet last Thursday night, according to a preliminary report, because a controller in the tower confused two planes and issued conflicting instructions.
The controller has been taken off duty and sent for more training, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and the episode is under investigation.
America West Flight 539, departing for Cleveland, was cleared for takeoff about 11 p.m. local time on Runway 25 Right. At the same time, Air Canada Flight 593 had landed on Runway 25 Left, a parallel runway, on a flight from Toronto, and had been cleared to taxi to the terminal, across 25 Right. A collision was averted because the America West plane was airborne by the time it reached the point where the Air Canada plane was crossing.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The controller has been taken off duty and sent for more training
In the REAL WORLD this jackass would have been fired.
I guess you only get fired if you ACTUALLY kill hundreds of people through carelessness.
Call me crazy but I think an ATC job is a wee bit different than 90% of the other jobs out there. And there probably aint a lot of folks out there with job skills and experience to do it.
Why does a person have to be fired for every screw-up? I think the investment in the worker is better.
So who gets the bill for cleaning all the seats in the planes....?
No where near the same circumstances but the "near miss" (should be called a "near hit") reminds me of Tenerife in 77.
LOL! Or the holes pinched in the seats...
Sounds like the tug driver pushing an airplane back turned a little early. Expensive mistake.
The FAA has identified and deployed advanced technologies to reduce the risks of runway collisions at commercial airports. Specifically, the FAA commissioned runway surface surveillance systems at the OEP-35 airports between March 1999 and December 2003. Runway surface surveillance systems use ground surveillance radar to provide tower controllers with information on the position and identification of aircraft and vehicles. The surveillance systems use state-of-the-art safety logic software—called the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS)—that predicts potential collisions of aircraft and vehicles and provides visual and aural warnings to the controllers.
For example, a Category A runway incursion occurred in July 2003 at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. A commercial aircraft was cleared to land on Runway 26R at night when an airport cargo truck crossed the approach end of Runway 26R without authorization. AMASS alerted the local controller, who ordered the aircraft to go around and abort the landing. Although the event was classified as a runway incursion, the controllers credited AMASS with preventing a collision.
The next generation ground survelliance software being deployed is the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X). ASDE-X presents aircraft and vehicle position and identification information overlaid on a color map showing the surface movement area and arrival corridors.
Can you imagine being in the cockpit knowing either you go over or into the other plane. It'd take a week to crap out all that seat cushion....
Everyone makes misteaks, see, even air traffic controllers, and shudder, pilots. Fired ought to be for demonstrated incompetence, meaning you don't or are unable to learn from your mistakes. IMHO.
Another failed airline merger.
2) It's likely that none of the passengers on either plane were aware of the near miss, especially since it happened in the dark.
http://www.townhall.com/news/ap/online/newsbriefs/D8CU5V400.html
A veteran air traffic controller was stripped of tower duty at McCarran International Airport while authorities investigated how two commercial airliners nearly collided on a runway, officials said Thursday.........
"They admitted there was a controller error," Walker said. "One plane was allowed to land where another plane had just crossed........"
The FAA said it did not appear the pilots of America West Flight 539 to Cleveland and Air Canada Flight 593 from Toronto had to take evasive action.......
The controller was removed from duty immediately after the incident and decertified, Donn Walker said. He could be recertified as a controller if he undergoes remedial training, the spokesman said.......
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All musing aside, I realize that airline pilots are some of the coolest-headed professionals (in any field) out there.
Heck, any pilot worthy of the title is generally pretty cool headed, and most of the wild-eyed cowboy crap is for the movies.
Despite what airshow maneuvers may appear to be to the general public, they are studies in aerobatic precision, not some barnstorming gesture from the early days of aviation.
Even then, the barnstormer who lived to retire was highly competent and cool headed.
We joke at the expense of that image, perhaps, with the difference being the reaction of a freeway commuter to driving through a pileup in the making at Indy or Daytona--where other cool heads are at work--despite the image that sells tickets.
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