Description

On 10 December 1998, Boeing 767-300 being operated by Delta Air Lines on a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta GA rejected its take off from runway 24 in misty daylight conditions after its crew saw a Boeing 747-400 being towed across the runway ahead of them. The aircraft was brought to a stop before reaching the 747.

Investigation

An Investigation was commenced by the Accident and Investigation Bureau of the Netherlands Aviation Safety Board. It was established that both aircraft had been issued with clearances which corresponded with their actions. The weather was overcast and surface visibility was being reported as 1700 metres in Mist with runway 24 RVR ranging between 1600 and 1800 metres. It was not possible to monitor ground movements from the VCR and Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) were in force.

About 15 minutes prior to the conflict event, the runway configuration had routinely changed from two landing runways (19R and 01R) and one departure runway (09) to two take off runways (09 and 24) and one landing runway (19R). Positions active in respect of runway 24 were one controller who was also responsible for runway 09, a trainee supervised by an OJTI who was also designated as TWR supervisor, a Ground Controller responsible for ground traffic on the southern side of the airport including the area around runway 24 and an Assistant Controller who was responsible for communications with all vehicles on the whole airport manoeuvring area in Dutch.