Originally Posted by
Chiefttp
I disagree, Not clearing another aircraft to Takeoff in extremely low visibility, while another Aircraft is 3 Miles away is the root cause of this problem! Secondary issue is how aware the Southwest crew was of the location of the FedEx Jet. I know Southwest was told by the Tower that FedEx was on a 3 mile final, but they may have missed that part of the Tower clearance. As far as hiring issues, there are posts on a few other forums, alluding to the fact that the Tower controller has had performance issues at another facility, pleaded the “R#@&ist” card and was relocated to Austin. Don’t shoot the messenger, but if a Tower controller cleared another jet for takeoff, at a quiet airport, while I was on 3 mile final flying a CAt III approach, I would be incredulous. It’s either an honest mistake, or the controller may be unsuited for this job.
I think that the general idea now is that it is preferred to discuss the technical facts of this incident going forward. As someone said, separate thread can be started for other issues. I urge no further response on that subject.
In the end, according to several posts, an initiating error was made by the controller. There is little we can do as pilots in terms of a faulty clearance being given except to try to recognize it. This is a pilot forum and I think it is most useful to discuss what we might be able to do to compensate for an ATC error.
I suppose in this age of TCAS, one could question the clearance based on the distance of the aircraft on final which would mean actively taking note of aircraft on final. Not a bad idea in low vis conditions. And once again, always advising ATC, but especially in low vis conditions where one is less likely to be seen, of any unexpected delay on a runway.