A China Eastern Airbus A330-300, registration B-6506 performing flight MU-5106
from Beijing to Shanghai Hongqiao (China) with 266 passengers, had landed
on Hongqiao’s runway 36R and was taxiing to the terminal needing to cross
runway 36L. The aircraft, that had been previously cleared to cross runway
36L, was instructed to stop and hold short of runway 36L but did not react
to the stop instruction.
A China Eastern Airbus A320-200, registration B-2337 performing flight MU-5643
from Shanghai Hongqiao to Tianjin (China) with 147 passengers, was accelerating
for takeoff from Hongqiao’s runway 36L when at about 110 KIAS the crew spotted
the A330-300 crossing the runway edge and assessed that they would not be
able to stop in time to avoid a collision, however, they would be able to
outclimb the A330. The crew firewalled the engines, continued their takeoff
run, rotated the aircraft at about 130 KIAS and managed to climb the A320
over the A330. The A320 continued to Tianjin for a safe landing about 100
minutes later.
China’s Civil Aviation Authority CAAC reported that the A320 was in their
takeoff run when the A330 crossing the runway appeared in front of them.
The A320 captain assessed that it was safer to continue, the rest of the
flight was without further incident. An investigation into the serious incident
has been opened.
On Oct 12th 2016 the CAAC reported that preliminary investigation results
suggest the serious incident was caused by a tower controller’s misdirected
instruction.
On Oct 15th 2016 the CAAC reported that the separation between the aircraft
reduced to 19 meters vertical and 13 meters horizontal (wingtip to wingtip)
while the A320 climbed over the vertical stabilizer of the A333. Screenshots
off and the reconstruction video below.
According to the reconstruction video the A320 lined up runway 36L at taxiway
H7. The A333 was taxiing on taxiway H3 and crossed the right runway edge
when the A320 was just short of taxiway H4 about 1600 meters/5250 feet into
the takeoff run and about 770 meters/2530 feet short of taxiway H3. The
A320 became airborne abeam taxiway C2 about 2100 meters/6890 feet into the
takeoff run and about 300 meters/1000 feet short of taxiway H3, and crossed
taxiway H3 19 meters/62 feet above the vertical tail of the A332.
Chinese media are reporting (no official statement to the sequence of events
released by the CAAC so far) that during the presentation of the video it
was said, that the A330 had been cleared to cross runway 36L at H3 about
36 seconds prior to the A320 receiving takeoff clearance, by which time
the controller had forgotten about the earlier crossing clearance, the A320
crew had not yet been on frequency and therefore had not heard the crossing
clearance. After the A330 crossed the hold short line tower called the A330
three times to stop, however, the crew did not listen. The crew also did
not check whether the runway was clear prior to cross the hold short line
blindly trusting in the ATC instructions. In addition, the cockpit voice
recorder of the A330 was not secured and was found overwritten. Takeoff
performance computation shows, that even from V1=146 KIAS (with Vr=147 KIAS,
V2=151 KIAS) the A320 could have stopped within 475 meters (thus permitting
the aircraft to stop more than 200 meters short of H3 had takeoff been rejected
abeam H4 at about 110 KIAS), however, the captain had no real time measurements
of distances remaining available. The CAAC are going to decide about punishments
on Oct 17th.
The CAAC reported late Oct 17th 2016, that preliminary investigation results,
the investigation probably being completed in about 20 days, suggest the
main cause of the serious incident was negligence by the tower controller,
however, the work by the A330 crew was also flawed. The CAAC reported that
the A330 was cleared to cross runway 36L, subsequently the A320 was cleared
to line up runway 36L and wait followed by takeoff clearance. When the A320
had reached about 110 KIAS the crew spotted the A330 crossing the runway
edge, the first officer applied brakes briefly, the commander took control
of the aircraft, applied TOGA and accelerated the aircraft to 130 KIAS then
rotated the aircraft at 7.03 degrees/second rate and climbed the A320 over
the A330, minimal vertical distance between the aircraft was 19 meters,
wingtip to wingtip distance was 13 meters. On board of both aircraft were
413 passengers and 26 crew. The tower controller was in violation of standard
operating procedures with cross checking not in place (editorial note: incomprehensible
what is meant, presumably the controller instructed just out of memory without
noting instructions into the ATC system, also preventing the supervising
controller to recognize the mistake) and forgot about the earlier crossing
clearance when clearing the A320 for takeoff. The A330 crew did not cross
check their instructions, did not check the status of the runway before
crossing and did not maintain radio contact with tower.
At the same time the CAAC announced that the captain of the A320 is going
to receive an award for his actions preventing what would have become China’s
worst aviation accident otherwise.
The Aviation Herald
Quick thinking Pilot prevents China’s worst aviation accident
