July 8, 2004 - FAA Probes 2 Close Calls At O'Hare
CHICAGO (USA) - Two city trucks strayed onto an active runway at
O'Hare International Airport within minutes of each other last
month, forcing two planes to abort their landings and prompting a
federal investigation.
Radar tapes show the aircraft were traveling about 160 m.p.h. at
altitudes of only 200 to 300 feet when the pilots noticed the yellow
city trucks on the runway, officials said Wednesday.
The trucks then swerved onto the grass and the pilots spooled up
engine power and climbed away from the airport in an emergency
maneuver called a go-around, the officials said.
Minutes after the two close calls on the night of June 27, one of
the same Chicago Department of Aviation pickup-truck drivers almost
repeated his error. He turned back from the runway only when he saw
an approaching plane--which happened to be the same Northwest
Airlines DC-9 that had aborted its initial landing, authorities
said.
"The driver was so shook up by [driving on the runway] that he
almost immediately committed [the same mistake]," said Elizabeth
Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA has launched an investigation, focusing on training methods
for drivers at the airport, Isham Cory said.
So-called runway incursions are the leading cause of commercial
aviation accidents and rank as one of the FAA's top safety
priorities.
The incidents took place after 11 p.m. as part of the airport was
undergoing repairs.
The planes and the trucks came as close as 3,000 feet of each other
in the two incidents, Isham Cory said. It translates to only a few
seconds until a possible collision because of the speed of the
planes. Separation standards were not violated in the third event,
the FAA said.
City aviation officials declined to discuss details of the close
calls. They would only identify the two drivers as a 10-year veteran
of the department and an employee who worked eight years as a
seasonal driver before being hired full time in April.
Chicago police ticketed both drivers for failure to yield right of
way to aircraft, and their driving privileges on the airfield were
revoked, said aviation spokeswoman Annette Martinez. She had no
information whether tests were administered for illegal drugs or
alcohol.
"They both have good driving records. These are their first
incidents. They are human and it was human error," Martinez said.
She added that disciplinary action is expected and that the drivers
will be retrained and tested.
The drivers, who were trying to cross the runway,
violated the cardinal safety rule on the airfield by entering an
active runway without receiving the go-ahead from ground-traffic
controllers,
officials said. Part of the investigation will focus on why they
tried to cross the runway instead of using a service road that goes
around the airstrips.
In the first incident, which occurred at 11:11 p.m., the city driver
pulled onto Runway 32 Left where it intersects Runway 27 Left. He
turned in the direction of the oncoming Northwest Airlines DC-9,
which was arriving from Minneapolis and was between one-eighth and
one-fourth mile from the tip of 32 Left, officials said.
The pickup driver steered off the runway into the grass as the pilot
banked the jetliner in a climb to avoid a possible collision.
At 11:15 p.m., a second driver crossed onto 32 Left in the same
location while a Boeing 747 freighter operated by Polar Air Cargo
tried to land, the radar tapes show.
That driver also veered into a grassy area when he realized his
mistake, by which time the pilot was already flying a go-around,
officials said.
Within minutes, the same driver crossed a "hold line" painted on the
pavement that vehicles are prohibited from passing without
clearance. He "realized his mistake, turned around and crossed the
hold line again,"
Isham Cory said. The driver backed away in time for the Northwest
plane to land on its second touchdown attempt.
Air-traffic controllers were alerted to the trucks by a warning
system installed several years ago that senses potential conflicts
on runways and taxiways. The Airport Movement Area Safety System
processes and enhances data from traditional ground radar to
determine potential collisions between planes in the air and
anything on the ground--including planes, airport vehicles or even
people on foot.
Isham Cory said the FAA probe will analyze the type of training the
drivers received before being certified to drive on the airfield and
whether the training deviated from FAA requirements.
"Studies show that many of these events are due to human error--lack
of attention, knowledge, training or other issues," she said.
The investigation will also determine whether airfield signs and
lighting need improvements, she said. Both Runways 32 Left and 27
Left were open at the time of the incidents, and repairs were being
made to nearby taxiways. Investigators will look at whether the
drivers mistakenly thought the runways were closed because of the
construction activity.
Before June 27, only five similar errors occurred at O'Hare in the
last 2 1/2 years, the FAA said.
Martinez said the city is awaiting feedback from the FAA. But she
said aviation officials will "see if there is anything we can add to
our training program to prevent this from happening again."
She said Aviation Department drivers are required to take a
defensive driving program designed by the National Safety Council as
part of their certification to drive on the airfield. Martinez also
said O'Hare won the Pilot Friendly Award in 2002 from the Air Line
Pilots Association for contributions to enhancing runway safety.
The president of the air-traffic controllers union at O'Hare agreed
that the city has taken steps over the years to prevent runway
incursions by vehicles and aircraft. But he said the errors by truck
drivers last month should serve as a warning to potential problems
when the airfield is torn up for the planned O'Hare expansion.
"We are extremely concerned about more incursions if the O'Hare
expansion takes place," said Craig Burzych, president at O'Hare
tower of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
"These truck drivers for the city were certified, experienced and
trained.
What's going to happen when we have hard-hat guys driving dump
trucks who don't have any idea where they are at?"
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