FlarePath
Cases › OPS11IA273 · Part 121 airline

EMBRAER ERJ190Air Canada

Denver, CO, USA · 2010-12-31·C-FHKA

0
fatal
0
serious
—
highest injury
—
damage
AnalyseThe analystOne timeline · precedents · ask the docket · what the record saysGenerateInvestigation briefFacts, cause, recorder extremes, sequence, sourcesSourceNTSB docket4 documents on data.ntsb.gov

What happened

NTSB summary, verbatim

A runway incursion occurred when an aviation operations vehicle, operated as the lead vehicle for a snow removal team, entered an active runway without clearance as the airplane was about to begin its takeoff roll. The airplane's crew noticed the headlights of the vehicle approaching on the runway and did not initiate their takeoff roll. The tower controller was not aware of the vehicle on the runway until advised by the airplane's crew. The airport was equipped with ASDE-X, which did not alert of the runway incursion due to the slow closure rate of the vehicle to the stationary aircraft. Postincident investigation revealed that the driver of the operations vehicle misidentified the runway for an adjacent taxiway.

Photographs

1the aircraft, and what the investigators found
The aircraft before the accident
C-FHKA (10711778164)
Eric Salard · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Probable cause

the Board's determination
The driver of the operation vehicle's misidentification of the runway for an adjacent taxiway, resulting in a runway incursion with an aircraft in position for takeoff.

Occurrence sequence

1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy
  1. 1 · Taxi-into takeoff position
    Runway incursion veh/AC/person
    defining event

Findings

1 causal · 0 contributing
  • CAUSE
    Personnel issues › Action/decision › Info processing/decision › Decision making/judgment — Airport personnel

NTSB analysis

from the final report

A runway incursion occurred when an aviation operations vehicle, operated as the lead vehicle for a snow removal team, entered an active runway without clearance as the airplane was about to begin its takeoff roll. The airplane's crew noticed the headlights of the vehicle approaching on the runway and did not initiate their takeoff roll. The tower controller was not aware of the vehicle on the runway until advised by the airplane's crew. The airport was equipped with ASDE-X, which did not alert of the runway incursion due to the slow closure rate of the vehicle to the stationary aircraft. Postincident investigation revealed that the driver of the operations vehicle misidentified the runway for an adjacent taxiway.