Description

On 27 April 2021, the crew of a Boeing 737-400 (OE-IAJ) being operated by ASL Airlines Belgium on a scheduled international cargo flight from Porto to Liege as TAY4959 saw a vehicle on the runway ahead during their night takeoff in good visibility but assessed that they would be able to get airborne before reaching the vehicle. By the time they overflew the position where the vehicle had been, it had cleared to the side of the runway after being instructed to do so. A subsequent discussion between the aircraft Captain and the relieving controller noted that safety reports would be filed by both parties.  

Investigation

The event was notified to the Portuguese Accident Investigation Agency (GPIAAF) by Porto Airport operations the following day and an in-depth Serious Incident Investigation was commenced. Relevant recordings of ground radar, TWR voice communications and CCTV around the time of the event were available to the Investigation. Whist it was in progress, another similar vehicle-on-runway/aircraft conflict occurred at Ponta Delgada on 13 May 2022 and this was taken into account from that point on because of some apparent commonality of contributing factors.