Two international planes with hundreds of people on board narrowly avoided disaster when they overran a runway and took off just meters above airport staff.
Both planes flew so close to an active Melbourne airport that a jet blast hit the area, a report said, resulting in a stress-related injury to a worker.
Their flight crews were unaware that the runway had been shortened by more than 1.5 km due to overnight repairs, resulting in two near misses within a fortnight.
A Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330-300 made its first over the runway on September 7, 2023, which had been reduced to about 2 km, when it took off and passed seven meters above the airport workshop.
Eleven days later, a Bamboo Airways Boeing 787-9 overshot the same strip and rose less than five meters above the night workers’ vehicles and personnel.
Each plane carried more than 200 people at the time.
‘Serious incidents’
No one was injured, but one worker reported that the first near miss caused their vehicle to shake violently.
The second incident resulted in one stress-related injury, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report said.
“These were serious incidents,” agency Chief Angus Mitchell told reporters on Tuesday.
“In both cases we had a fully loaded and fueled aircraft with over 200 personnel on board, within meters of fixed equipment on the ground and with factory equipment.
“So it was fortunate in this case that we had no impact.”
‘Work pressure and time pressure’
All crews had been informed of the reduced runway via flight announcements and radio broadcasts from the airport information service.
However, the crews of the two international aircraft involved in the near misses had not identified the information due to “expectations, workload and time constraints”.
They therefore used standard calculations for take-off performance, where the reduced engine thrust caused them to overshoot.
The flight crews also failed to confirm the shortened runway with air traffic control, who in turn did not challenge them.
Dispatchers, briefing the flight crews, had noted the reduced runway size but did not highlight it as it affected the required take-off force, which is the pilot’s responsibility.
“It was a terrifying experience for the workers on site,” Mitchell said.
“That’s why we’ve been so detailed in the investigation, but also in our safety recommendations to make sure things like this don’t happen again, especially in Australia.”
What happens next?
Both airlines have updated their procedures to ensure that changes in runway distances are communicated directly to flight crew.
Airservices Australia – in consultation with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority – is reviewing its air traffic control procedures as a result of the near misses.
The ATSB has recommended that the International Civil Aviation Organization review air traffic control communications procedures with crews under “safety-critical” aerodrome conditions.
The international organization has already committed to introducing additional highly visible signage to warn crews of runway changes.
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