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NTSB ADVISORY
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National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594
June 11, 2007
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NTSB INVESTIGATING RUNWAY INCURSION IN SAN FRANCISCO
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The National Transportation Safety Board is
investigating a runway incursion in San Francisco two weeks
ago in which two airliners may have come within 50 feet of
each other on intersecting runways.
At about 1:30 p.m. on May 26, 2007, the tower air
traffic controller cleared SkyWest Airlines flight 5741, an
Embraer 120 arriving from Modesto, California, to land on
runway 28R. Forgetting about the arrival airplane, the same
controller then cleared Republic Airlines flight 4912, an
Embraer 170 departing for Los Angeles, to take off from
runway 1L, which intersects runway 28R.
After the SkyWest airliner touched down, the Airport
Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) alerted and the air
traffic controller transmitted "Hold, Hold, Hold" to the
SkyWest flight crew in an attempt to stop the aircraft short
of runway 1L. The SkyWest crew applied maximum braking that
resulted in the airplane stopping in the middle of runway
1L. As this was occurring, the captain of Republic Airlines
flight 4912 took control of the aircraft from the first
officer, realized the aircraft was traveling too fast to
stop, and initiated an immediate takeoff. According to the
crew of SkyWest 5741, the Republic Airlines aircraft
overflew theirs by 30 to 50 feet. The Federal Aviation
Administration has categorized the incident as an
operational error.
The NTSB sent an investigator to San Francisco, who
collected radar data, recorded air traffic control
communications, and flight crew statements, and interviewed
air traffic control personnel.
A preliminary report on the incident is on the Board's
website at:
http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id...10X00701&key=1