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Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority is investigating an incident where the “awaiting departure clearance” command was forgotten, resulting in an aircraft taking off while another aircraft was crossing the runway at Noi Bai Airport.
On the morning of July 5th, confirming with a VietNamNet reporter, the Director of Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority, Dinh Viet Thang, stated that they had received a report regarding the incident where the “awaiting departure clearance” command was forgotten, causing an aircraft to take off while another aircraft was crossing the runway at Noi Bai Airport.
According to Mr. Thang, the Civil Aviation Authority did not receive a report from the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM) and is currently investigating the matter. “Currently, the Authority has suspended the duty crew involved in the incident for the purpose of investigation,” said Mr. Thang.
The incident occurred on the afternoon of June 24th when Thai Air Asia flight AIQ645 was taxiing to take off from Hanoi to Bangkok, Thailand. At the same time, another flight from a different airline was landing on runway 11L (parallel to 11R).
Thai Air Asia’s plane at Noi Bai airport (Artwork: VOV)
During the communication process, the air traffic control tower (TWR) at Noi Bai Airport instructed the AIQ645 flight to stop and await departure clearance while also issuing clearance for the landing flight to cross runway 11R and proceed to taxiway S8 for parking.
However, the crew of Thai Air Asia only acknowledged the clearance to take off without mentioning the “awaiting departure clearance” instruction. The duty crew also failed to notice this omission.
As a result, the AIQ645 flight began its takeoff roll on runway 11R while the landing flight was still crossing the same runway.
According to the testimony of the AIQ645 crew, at the moment the aircraft lifted its nose wheel and left the ground, the position of the landing aircraft was at the intersection of runway 11R and taxiway S8, with a distance of approximately 1,500 meters between the two aircraft.
At that time, the surface surveillance system issued a red warning for both flights. After discovering the incident, the air traffic controller took no action to address the situation.
The incident occurred on June 24th, but it was not until June 30th that the Northern Air Management Company forwarded the information to the Safety Committee of the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM). Shortly after, VATM submitted a preliminary report to Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority.
@Vietnamnet