Originally Posted by
jumpseater
Firstly there is no special clearance, you are either cleared to enter a runway or not.
Stopbars are a system that are in use worldwide and are in place at Haneda. A stop bar won’t of course physically prevent a runway incursion. How likely is it that if the crew had seen an illuminated red stop bar on that night, that they would have crossed it?
If the airport currently uses them in visibility of less than 600 metres, there’s nothing to prevent them being used 24/7 in any weather conditions, the same as many other airports worldwide. The changes to make that happen would be extra ATCO training, and a reconfigured (obviously at a cost) lighting system.
Yes, there's no such thing as "no.1 for departure" meaning runway clearance and takeoff clearance, but obviously this pilot may have thought he had an exception.
Maybe I should reword it as "special exception". But if the JCG pilot genuinely thought his plane was an exception (having already been allowed to enter the runway further down from the normal taxiway AND being given No.1 for departure) then it is also possible that he could have disregarded the stopbar as well.
Furthermore how would a pilot react is the stopbar was off due to a malfunction, but no ATC clearance had been given? The key thing is that the ATC controls both the stopbar and radio instructions, and following ATC is the only way to avoid this disaster.
Furthermore the stopbars may in fact have been off to allow for planes and vehicles to cross the runway, and turned on only when the plane was about to land. This would also have not stopped the JCG plane from entering the runway. Many vehicles would not have to obtain permission to cross a runway if they operate on it and stopbars are irrelevant for them when turned off.
But generally I agree with the three following safety recommendations:
- Retraining pilots more to emphasize the terminology for entering a runway and takeoff clearance, assuming that there are no exceptions to the terminology.
- Full time monitoring of runway radar for any unwarranted incursions.
- Stopbars in use at all times