Australia probes fourth close call at Sydney airport in less than a month
By Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said on Friday it had opened an investigation into a fourth air traffic control incident at Sydney airport in less than a month, after two Qantas planes were directed toward the same intersection on the ground.
A Qantas Airbus A321 preparing to depart for the Gold Coast braked to avoid another Qantas aircraft, a Boeing 737 that had arrived from Melbourne on Tuesday, the bureau said. The 737 had been cleared to continue along a taxiway that the A321 had been cleared to turn onto, it said.
The ATSB said there was no immediate risk of collision, but it wanted to determine whether any contributing factors were common to three other incidents at the airport over the past month.
"The evidence collection phase of the investigation will involve interviewing involved air traffic controllers and flight crew, retrieving and reviewing available recorded data, and the collection of other relevant information," the ATSB said. A preliminary report is expected in six to eight weeks.
The latest close call follows a series of incidents that has put Sydney air traffic operations under renewed scrutiny.
On July 27, two Qantas aircraft narrowly avoided a collision after a QantasLink Dash 8 completing a landing and a Qantas 737 whose pilots reported they had been cleared to cross the same runway came into conflict. The 737 was able to stop, but only after crossing the safety hold point.
On Aug 9, a Jetstar A320 had to brake suddenly on the tarmac to avoid a Qatar Airways Boeing 777, injuring a cabin crew member. The same day, a Virgin Australia 737 cleared for takeoff spotted a Qantas aircraft crossing the runway ahead and stopped about 1 km (0.62 miles) short of the other plane, which had also been cleared to cross.
Separately, the ATSB said on Thursday it had received a report from an air traffic controller warning that staff at Sydney airport were unprepared for the complex airspace and procedure changes resulting from the opening of a new international airport in the city's west.
The report, made in early June, said more than 50 controllers had responded to a union survey, with most expressing concern about the lack of time given to learn "an enormous amount of highly detailed and complex material" before the changes came into effect on July 9.
The controller also drew a comparison with the air traffic control situation in Washington, D.C., ahead of a deadly midair collision in January 2025, where staff had pleaded with local management for changes in the months leading up to the accident.
Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which investigated the report, found that Airservices Australia, the government entity employing air traffic controllers, had implemented appropriate training, procedures, and operational support arrangements relating to the changes.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Jamie Freed)