B738 / B738, vicinity Sydney Australia, 2023

B738 / B738, vicinity Sydney Australia, 2023

Summary

On 29 April 2023, a Boeing 737-800 night takeoff clearance at Sydney was delayed by traffic that had just landed and took longer than expected to clear the runway. It became necessary for another Boeing 737-800 on approach to the same runway to go around, and minimum separation was reduced below safe distances both laterally and vertically. It was found that the conflict had resulted from a combination of inappropriate intervention by the Tower Supervisor and the controller’s own actions. A review of potential conflicts during mixed-mode runway use at Sydney was initiated by ATC.

Description

On 29 April 2023, a Boeing 737-800 (VH-VZW) operated by Qantas on a scheduled passenger service from Auckland to Sydney as QF146 was instructed to go around on short final because another Boeing 737-800 (VH-VZM), also operated by Qantas on a scheduled passenger service from Sydney to Brisbane as QF540, had yet to get airborne. The takeoff delay was due to traffic that had just landed and took longer than expected to clear the runway. The subsequent minimum separation was found to have been 0.8nm laterally and 330 feet vertically. The airport was operating two parallel runways in mixed mode.

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