Near miss at El Prat, Barcelona

[yorkie]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...de-runway-Barcelona-airport-caught-video.html

Seconds away from disaster: Dramatic moment two planes almost collide on runway at Barcelona airport caught on video

• Boeing 767 and Airbus A340 involved in the near-miss in Spain
• Airbus taxied across jet's path as it was coming in to land at El Prat
• Boeing pilot forced to carry out emergency 'go-around procedure'

The dramatic moment two planes almost collided on a runway in Barcelona has been captured on camera.

The footage reveals the near-miss between a Boeing 767 from Russian airline Utair and an Aerolineas Argentinas Airbus A340 at El Prat Airport in Spain.

It shows the Boeing coming in to land on the runway, making its final approach, as the Airbus, getting ready for a flight to Buenos Aires, taxis across its path.

The Boeing is forced to abort the landing, with the pilot carrying out an emergency 'go-around' procedure.

The jet, which had travelled from Russia, landed safely shortly afterwards.

The heart-stopping incident, which occurred on Saturday, was caught on camera by Miguel Angel, who posted the video to YouTube, where it has already been viewed more than one million times....

[youtube]1N5THRSp4hM[/youtube]

Are there not systems in place - an airline equivalent of rail safety systems such as TPWS or ATP - to prevent such incidents?

 

[Crossover]

Not sure about safety systems but there is almost certainly signalling type systems that show a plane where it can go on the ground

That said , only a few days ago a plane landed on an uncommissioned runway in Poland so anything can seemingly happen!

 

[455driver]

Kudos to the pilot of the landing plane, as soon as (s)he sees the other plane encroach on the runway the engines power up and the nose lifts, very quick reactions with none of that 'oh sh#t' delay that can sometimes happen. Of course they could have been watching the other plane thinking 'dont you dare, dont you dare, oh you f###er' before throttling up.

 

[bnm]

Missing from the quoted text of the Daily Fail article in the OP is the following:

Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA), the public body responsible for airports in Spain, released a statement saying there was never any danger of a collision as there was sufficient space to carry out a landing between the two planes.

So, quite possible there was no 'incident' at all. The BBC were a little more circumspect in their reporting:

Sources at Spanish airport authority AENA told La Vanguardia newspaper that the planes were more than 1km ( 0.6 miles) apart at all times, and that the angle of the shot makes the planes appear closer to each other than they actually were.

Both planes were in the correct position and the Russian jet could have landed safely, the sources said. Neither of the two airlines had lodged a complaint, they added.

However, it is not clear why the pilot of the Russian plane took the decision to abort the landing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28200666

AENA is also Spain's air traffic control authority.

A translation of the article in La Vanguardia:

A video has captured an airplane aborting a landing at Barcelona last Saturday, ​​in a last minute maneuver made by the pilot when another aircraft was taxiing across the runway, although AENA has said that there was no risk at any time and that both planes were where they should be.

Speaking to La Vanguardia, AENA sources have said that at the time there was more than a kilometre between the landing plane and the one taxiing.

Shooting with a telephoto lens and the perspective from which the scene was recorded create the optical impression that the two planes are closer than was reality.

AENA emphasize that the decision to abort a landing is a power that a pilot always has for any reason. Neither airline has filed any complaint or report.

In the video, released on the social networks, it appears the Russian plane is about to land at El Prat de Barcelona, ​​but decides to "go-around", just as another aircraft was taxiing in the area to move towards the runway.

AENA say the landing could have been made ​​without any risk, since both aircraft were in the place where they belonged, with enough distance between them.

http://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20...ado-capta-abortando-aterrizaje-barcelona.html

 

[carriageline]

Kudos to the pilot of the landing plane, as soon as (s)he sees the other plane encroach on the runway the engines power up and the nose lifts, very quick reactions with none of that 'oh sh#t' delay that can sometimes happen. Of course they could have been watching the other plane thinking 'dont you dare, dont you dare, oh you f###er' before throttling up.

Which is apparently called the "emergency go around procedure" according to the report LOL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Minilad]

I think a few people might be getting "please explains" there

 

[Greenback]

I think bnm is correct. My first thought on seeing the video was that the planes were much further apart than appears due to the angle of the shot. The headline is misleading as only one of the aircraft was actually on the runway. It looked to me as though there was plenty of room between them and that the pilot of the incoming took action as a precaution. That's fine, I'm sure everyone would rather be safe than sorry and if the pilot has any safety concerns they should err on the side of caution.

I do think that there's not really a story here, and it's only in the public eye because the film makes it look much worse than it was.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Looks to me like the lens has compressed the distance somewhat.

Go around procedures are relatively common at large airports, and well practiced. If you think that a place like Heathrow has a landing every 90 seconds there's not much flexibility if a plane takes longer to land than the one behind which will already be on the final approach.

As regards Yorkie's question, yes there are. ATC computers flag up possible conflicts and all commercial passenger plans have TCAS fitted which warns the pilot of possible conflicts.

In short, I don't think there is really a story here.

 

[Greenback]

Whenever I've travelled out of or into Heathrow, I've always been amazed at how close the other aircraft waiting to land or take off appear to be. I should think that the lens has definitely exaggerated things further here.

 

[starrymarkb]

I've heard a lot of ranting made by flightcrew about the ATC standards at Barcelona.

This is also an odd one, the ARG A340 has to depart from the longer of the two westerly runways due to its weight (fully fueled for Buenos Ares) and the route ATC were sending it required it to cross the crosswind runway three times (it's unusual for the crosswind runway to be in use with departures on the 25s)

Question is was the A340 cleared across the runway each time, or was it given a clearance to it's final hold point with implied multiple runway crossings.

I know in the UK ATC will direct an aircraft to the crossing point. (EG Taxi Hold point Alpha 5) and then give further instructions once the aircraft is stationary (Cleared to cross Runway 27R Taxi Hold Point Bravo 3 via....)

 

[westcoaster]

First thought is the AR343 failed to hold short.

this from the aviation herald

http://avherald.com/h?article=476e99b0&opt=0

 

[CallySleeper]

Old news. Think this happened on Saturday morning, surprised the media have only cottoned on now. Trust the daily fail to blow it out of proportion, and just in time for the Spanish holiday traffic too.

The A340 should have held short though.

 

[starrymarkb]

Probably found it when it started getting popular on Youtube