A320 / SW4, Calgary AB Canada, 2016

A320 / SW4, Calgary AB Canada, 2016

Summary

On 2 December 2016, the crew of an Airbus A320 passing 100 knots on takeoff at Calgary saw another aircraft crossing an intersection ahead but continued because they considered that, as the other aircraft was already more than half way across, it would be clear before they reached that point. The Investigation found that the GND Controller had cleared the other aircraft to cross after forgetting that the runway was active and under TWR control. It was concluded that the response of the ANSP SMS process to a history of identical controller errors and related reports had been inadequate.

Description

On 2 December 2016, an Airbus A320 (C-FDQV) being operated by Air Canada and departing Calgary on a scheduled passenger flight to Vancouver as ACA 221 was accelerating through 100 knots on runway 29 in “twilight” but otherwise excellent day visibility when its crew saw an out of service Swearingen SA226-TC (C-FGEW) being operated by Sunwest Aviation crossing the runway ahead. Because this aircraft was already half way across, the A320 crew elected to continue their takeoff which was accomplished without further incident.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB). Sufficient relevant recorded data and testimony was available to enable a detailed reconstruction of the events leading up to the incursion. It was noted that the benign prevailing weather conditions had played no part in the incursion. It was noted that the GND controller involved had 15 years’ experience of which 11 were at Calgary and had been on duty for 4 hours at the time of the occurrence.

The full content of this page is available to registered users only.
Please Log in or Register

SKYbrary Partners:

Safety knowledge contributed by: