ATR72 Canberra runway incursion
I do have sympathy for the crew here.
This is is what I think could of happened - very short taxi from the VA terminal, so the F/O could of been distracted doing the line up checks as they were taxiing on to the runway and not properly monitoring the turn. Captain followed the first lead in lines he saw (30). They could of been running the checklist as the captain or F/O realised the error, been in the middle of a quick confused discussion about it and Canberra tower are already all over it, telling them ‘stop stop stop’ (great job tower). Incident occurred at 7PM so crew could of come off a long day. Having asked around, there was no application of take off power.
I’m not downplaying the negative outcome that could of occurred from this, but I’m giving some sympathy to the crew. I’ve made many mistakes whilst flying all of which could of had questionable outcomes had they not been picked up by the person next to me or even myself, we’re just human. I’ve even heard of captains turning the wrong way on to a runway at uncontrolled airports realising instantly their blunder taxi to the end, backtrack for the correct runway, file a report and hear nothing about it! Unfortunately in this case they ostensibly made the same mistake realised the error, never were going to take off but had ATC screaming ‘STOP STOP STOP’ which sounds very frightening over a frequency and picks up traction with media.
end!
This is is what I think could of happened - very short taxi from the VA terminal, so the F/O could of been distracted doing the line up checks as they were taxiing on to the runway and not properly monitoring the turn. Captain followed the first lead in lines he saw (30). They could of been running the checklist as the captain or F/O realised the error, been in the middle of a quick confused discussion about it and Canberra tower are already all over it, telling them ‘stop stop stop’ (great job tower). Incident occurred at 7PM so crew could of come off a long day. Having asked around, there was no application of take off power.
I’m not downplaying the negative outcome that could of occurred from this, but I’m giving some sympathy to the crew. I’ve made many mistakes whilst flying all of which could of had questionable outcomes had they not been picked up by the person next to me or even myself, we’re just human. I’ve even heard of captains turning the wrong way on to a runway at uncontrolled airports realising instantly their blunder taxi to the end, backtrack for the correct runway, file a report and hear nothing about it! Unfortunately in this case they ostensibly made the same mistake realised the error, never were going to take off but had ATC screaming ‘STOP STOP STOP’ which sounds very frightening over a frequency and picks up traction with media.
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I think you're missing the point. True, everyone makes mistakes but it's important that we all learn from them to prevent them from occurring again. An ATSB report follows the ICAO Annex 13 mandate where the objective of an investigation is to prevent accidents and incidents, and not to apportion blame or liability.
As a result of the Lexington accident I quoted above, our company implemented a procedure where the intended runway heading for departure is bugged during our pre-flight preparation. Then, when we line up for departure, the captain will say 'runway heading check' and the FO will look to see that the heading bug is pointing in the right direction and say 'check'. A very simple procedure that would have saved the lives lost in Lexington in 2006. I now fly for a different airline, and although it's not in our current SOPs, I still use this as a simple line up check to see if I'm on the correct runway for departure.
As a result of the Lexington accident I quoted above, our company implemented a procedure where the intended runway heading for departure is bugged during our pre-flight preparation. Then, when we line up for departure, the captain will say 'runway heading check' and the FO will look to see that the heading bug is pointing in the right direction and say 'check'. A very simple procedure that would have saved the lives lost in Lexington in 2006. I now fly for a different airline, and although it's not in our current SOPs, I still use this as a simple line up check to see if I'm on the correct runway for departure.
Standard ATR checklist and procedure (I dare say world wide and including VA) is to bug runway heading and course during pre-flight. The checklist also calls for Lateral Flight Director bar as one of the last things to do prior to take-off. This a last check to ensure heading is bugged and your are on the correct runway. You can still muck it up if you're lazy and instead of checking the FD Bar correctly with the departure runway you just hit heading and centre it.
Don't know the crew but would suggest theres a few holes that lined up here (possibly)
1. Decision to go from that intersection at night was a poor idea (I operated CBR for years and never once did it for many reasons)
2. Maybe a laxed briefing
3. Checklist not ad-heard to
4. FMS not set up as per FCOM ( possibly still not putting departure runway in etc)
5. Airmanship aspect missed of checking which runway you're lined up on
I'm not having a go at the crew because knowing this operation theres a very high chance theres a lot of other factors at play the report wont suggest. Also lets face it, we are all human and do our best not to make errors on a daily basis but sometimes things just don't go our way and mistakes happen.
Don't know the crew but would suggest theres a few holes that lined up here (possibly)
1. Decision to go from that intersection at night was a poor idea (I operated CBR for years and never once did it for many reasons)
2. Maybe a laxed briefing
3. Checklist not ad-heard to
4. FMS not set up as per FCOM ( possibly still not putting departure runway in etc)
5. Airmanship aspect missed of checking which runway you're lined up on
I'm not having a go at the crew because knowing this operation theres a very high chance theres a lot of other factors at play the report wont suggest. Also lets face it, we are all human and do our best not to make errors on a daily basis but sometimes things just don't go our way and mistakes happen.
