Planes came within metres of hitting Melbourne airport workers in ‘terrifying’ incidents after runway shortened | Melbourne

Two passenger planes narrowly avoided colliding with construction vehicles and workers during takeoff at Melbourne airport in 2023 by less than five meters because flight crews were unaware the runway was nearly 1,600 meters shorter than normal, an Australian safety investigation has found.

The incidents, described as “terrifying” for workers on the ground, led to changes in domestic and international practices regarding informing flight crews of critical safety information to reduce the possibility of human error during takeoff.

On Tuesday, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau published its final report The events that occurred in September 2023, when two planes exceeded the end of the same runway during takeoff 11 days apart, were mentioned.

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The length of the runway was temporarily shortened from 3,657 meters to 2,089 meters to allow surface renewal works at night.

In the first incident on September 7, a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330-300 plane with 247 people on board overshot the runway, passing less than seven meters above workers and construction vehicles while taking off to fly to Kuala Lumpur.

Eleven days later, a Bamboo Airways Boeing 787-9 aircraft bound for Hanoi also took off beyond the temporary end of the runway, missing the workers by 15 feet.

While no physical injuries occurred, the planes continued their planned flights.

The ATSB’s investigation found that flight crews did not include or account for critical information about changes in runway length in takeoff calculations due to expectations, workload and time pressures.

“These were serious incidents,” ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said. “In both cases, we had a fully loaded and fueled aircraft with over 200 personnel coming within meters of fixed equipment and work equipment on the ground. So it was fortunate that we did not experience an impact in this case.”

The ATSB investigation found that flight crews were informed of changes to the runway through written reports and the airport’s automated terminal information service (a voice loop accessed as a standard part of flight planning procedures).

Dispatchers briefing the flight crews also took into account the shortening of the runway distance when calculating whether the planes could take off as planned. However, dispatchers did not draw the flight crew’s attention specifically to the runway length, as it did not result in changes in logistics such as weight distribution, only the level of thrust required for takeoff (which it is the pilot’s responsibility to calculate).

Malaysia Airlines crew told investigators their focus before takeoff was on closing taxiways, while Bamboo Airways crew said they were experiencing a high workload due to repeated power outages and felt under time pressure to leave.

The risk controls in place at the time were “procedural in nature,” Mitchell said.

“This and previous incidents demonstrate that this process is prone to human error, given the potentially catastrophic consequences of a loaded, fully fueled aircraft impacting a work site during takeoff,” he said.

“Of course for the workers on site this was a terrifying experience and that’s why we’ve been so detailed in our investigation and also in our safety recommendations to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen again, particularly in Australia.”

Mitchell said both airlines updated their flight dispatcher procedures and processes in response to the incident.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has also introduced standards for high-visibility signage around airports to alert flight crews to temporary changes in runway lengths.

Air Services Australia, in consultation with the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, is working on proposed changes to air traffic control procedures regarding the communication of basic information about runway operations to flight crews.

The ATSB Commission also issued a formal safety recommendation that ICAO review its standards and recommended practices for air traffic control communications to improve assurance that flight crews receive important information about airport conditions.

Guardian Australia has approached Malaysia Airlines and Bamboo Airways for comment.