British Airways Incident at Johannesburg

[PukinDog]

Obviously a breakdown of SA inside the cockpit while the aircraft was moving.

I will be interested to find out whether the crew's pre-start briefing included the expected taxi route to the runway in use and whether they discussed any changes to what was previously expected and briefed, if any.

Anyone operating into less-than-ideal airports KNOWS it may be substandard to what we're used to seeing in the 1st world, and considers things like lack of or poor signage and markings a threat, and is discussed just like bad weather, terrain, etc. A proper brief will discuss the taxi route and (in this case) the jog to the left, the expectation to look for the red hold-short sign for the runway (as clearly seen in the picture) and the fact that there's a taxiway leading straight ahead you don't want to take. The whole purpose of briefing beforehand it is to figure out the traps before you begin taxiing and arrive there because there are cockpit chore and duty distractions in between. If you expect there to be no traps or have them all magically erased you're in the wrong business.

All the technology and niceties in the world aren't going to make a difference if the fundamentals aren't there, and SA is lost. Moving a/c displays aren't always accurate and all the hotspot notes on a plate aren't going to help if you don't know you're there in the first place.

Moaning about less-than-perfect airport lighting/facilities does nothing to prevent something like this from recurring. A thorough briefing of taxi route (expected and cleared-for), recognizing threats beforehand, and maintaining vigilance will and is the biggest tool in the shed to plug up what could be the first big hole in the cheese.

It's also incumbent upon us to do our professional best to not be guilty of a runway incursion, and without doing all of the above (even at the most nicely laid-out and lighted/signed) airport, you aren't. Both pilots knowing where they are on the ground and how we've been cleared is also the first red flag for us if we subsequently receive a bogus clearance from ATC that may put us or others at risk.