Air safety boss 'trying to understand' Sydney Airport incident reporting delay
A third safety issue on the tarmac at Sydney Airport in recent weeks prompted the nation's air safety boss question why investigators were not notified for four days about another incident on Sunday.
Air Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Angus Mitchell expressed confusion over a four-day delay in reporting a third safety incident at Sydney Airport. The incident occurred on Sunday, following a Jetstar crew member's injury in a near collision with a Qatar Airlines flight. Mitchell stated the third incident involved two planes crossing the runway more than a kilometre away from where another flight was preparing to take off.
Air Services Australia noted the aircraft were not in close proximity, but Mitchell emphasized it should not have happened. He questioned the delay, which may have been due to confusion over whether it was a training exercise. Mitchell highlighted the multiple safety defenses in place, stating they prevented escalation in all three incidents.
The ATSB is investigating the latest incident, where traffic control canceled a take-off clearance as the pilot realized a potential conflict. This follows two near-misses at Sydney Airport within a fortnight, including a Qantas Link and Qantas flight avoiding a collision on July 27 and a Jetstar crew member being injured after pilots had to slam on brakes to avoid colliding with a Qatar Airlines flight.
Civil Air president Scott Nugent called for changes, citing pressure on air traffic controllers in Australia.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
