RJs Involved in Runway Incursions

Air Safety Week,  Jan 21, 2008  

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SkyWest and Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) were recently involved in two runway mishaps, one of which seriously damaged a SkyWest jet at San Francisco.

And in what has been termed the most serious runway incursion at Atlanta Hartsfield, a Delta 757 taking off on Jan. 11 nearly collided with an ASA Bombardier CRJ 200 that was crossing a runway in front of the departing jet at about 10:30 am.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has begun a formal investigation as has ASA into the event surrounding its Flight 4876. There were 130 aboard the Mexico-bound 757 and 44 aboard the ASA jet when they came within 1,200 feet of one another.

FAA spokesperson Kathleen Bergen indicated the tower had instructed the ASA jet, outbound to Greensboro, NC, to hold short at the runway intersection. Instead, the aircraft proceeded across the runway despite the fact the pilot acknowledged and repeated the hold short instructions.

Also under investigation by the FAA is the SkyWest/United accident in San Francisco in which a United 757 backed into a SkyWest aircraft carrying 60 passengers and crew on Jan 13.

The event occurred at 7:30 pm at Terminal 3 as the Boeing 757, destined for maintenance, backed out of Gate 80, and collided with the Bombardier CRJ 700. Headed to Boise, Idaho, the regional jet's passengers were evacuated and accommodated at local hotels. The tails of both aircraft incurred damage to the vertical stabilizer and engines when the Boeing 757 tail assembly came over the top of the CRJ 700.

The RJ, Flight 6398, had already been pushed back from Gate 79 and was awaiting tower instructions. Wing walkers, guiding aircraft safely out of gates, were not required for maintenance moves, according to the airport. There were two maintenance workers in the cockpit steering the plane as it was being pushed by the tug truck. The Sunday accident closed the eastbound runway for about an hour.

SkyWest was also involved in a controller error, one of four runway mishaps at the airport last year, in which a Republic Airlines jet departed prematurely nearly colliding with a SkyWest Brasilia landing on an intersecting runway. The controller forgot that he cleared the SkyWest aircraft for landing.

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