The Transportation Safety Board of Canada and American Airlines are investigating a near-collision on a Pearson International Airport runway that forced an Air Canada pilot into manoeuvres to avoid disaster.
Air traffic controllers ordered an
American Eagle commuter plane to “stop, stop, stop” as it meandered onto a runway where the Air Canada Airbus was taking off on Nov. 18.
The 50-seat American Eagle
Embraer EMB-145 commuter plane had just landed on a flight from Chicago at 11:27 p.m. on runway 24L,
the Transport Canada Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Report said.
Air traffic controllers told the pilots to move off the runway at the Delta 4 exit and stay off the runway, the report said.
“The flight crew read back the instruction correctly,” report author John Donaldson said.
A 120-seat
Air Canada Airbus 319 headed for Halifax was moving down runway 24R. An air traffic controller saw the American Eagle “passing the hold line and stop bars” and ordered, “Stop. Stop. Stop.”
The commuter plane kept going and stopped partially on the runway, the report said. The flight crew contacted the tower with the words, “Say again.”
The Air Canada pilot “rotated around taxiway Delta 2 and overflew” the commuter plane in its way, the report said.
Toronto News: Pilot manoeuvre averted disaster at Pearson - thestar.com