SYDNEY: Australia’s transport security regulator mentioned on Friday (Aug 21) it had launched an investigation right into a fourth incident involving air traffic control at Sydney airport in lower than a month after two planes have been directed in direction of the identical intersection on the bottom.
A Qantas Airbus A321 getting ready to depart to the Gold Coast braked to keep away from one other Qantas plane, a Boeing 737, that had arrived from Melbourne on Tuesday, the Australian Transport Security Bureau mentioned in a press release.
The Boeing had been cleared to proceed alongside a taxiway that the Airbus had been cleared to show onto, it mentioned.
The ATSB mentioned there was no speedy threat of collision, however had launched an investigation to grasp if there have been any contributing components in widespread with three different incidents on the airport during the last month.
“The proof assortment section of the investigation will contain interviewing concerned air site visitors controllers and flight crew, retrieving and reviewing obtainable recorded information, and the gathering of different related info,” the ATSB mentioned.
A preliminary report is predicted in six to eight weeks.
On Jul 27, two Qantas plane narrowly prevented a collision after a QantasLink Sprint 8 finishing a touchdown and a Qantas 737 whose pilots reported that they had been cleared to cross the identical runway got here into battle. The 737 was in a position to cease, although solely after crossing the protection maintain level.
On Aug 9, a Jetstar A320 needed to brake all of a sudden on the tarmac to keep away from colliding with a Qatar Airways Boeing 777, injuring a cabin crew member.
The identical day, a Virgin Australia 737 cleared for takeoff noticed a Qantas plane crossing the runway forward and stopped about 1km wanting the opposite aircraft, which had additionally been cleared to cross.
Individually, the ATSB mentioned on Thursday it had acquired a report from an air site visitors controller that employees on the airport had been unprepared for complicated airspace and process modifications ensuing from the opening of a brand new worldwide airport within the metropolis’s west.
The report, made in early June, mentioned greater than 50 controllers on the airport had responded to a union survey, with most expressing concern on the lack of time given to study “an infinite quantity of extremely detailed and complicated materials” earlier than the airspace modifications got here into impact on Jul 9.
The controller raised issues of similarities to the air site visitors management state of affairs in Washington, DC, forward of a lethal midair collision in January 2025 the place employees had pleaded with native administration for modifications within the months main as much as the accident.
In response, Australia’s Civil Aviation Security Authority, which investigated the report, discovered that Airservices Australia, the federal government entity using air site visitors controllers, had applied applicable coaching, procedures, and operational help preparations regarding the modifications.
