BFU report into incident involving EI-CVC

The Bundesstelle fϋr Flugunfalluntersuchung (BFU) - Germany's Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation has published a report into an incident involving Aer Lingus A320 EI-CVC at Frankfurt Main airport on January 12 2006.

On the night in question a B747-200 registered B-2446 to Air China Cargo landed on Frankfurt's R07R at 19:07L. During the landing roll the crew were given the instruction by ATC to ".. taxi Golf and hold short of runway 07L". The crew repeated the instruction "Taxi Golf and Hotel ah hold short of runway 07L". The controller repeated the instruction "Yes, on Golf hold short of runway 07L", to which the crew confirmed "On Golf ah cross 07L". At his time the crew confirmed that the aircraft was on taxiway Golf.

Almost immediately the controller issued landing clearance to the Aer Lingus flight EIN656 with a crew of 6 and 114 passengers which was on finals from Dublin. The Aer Lingus crew reported that they touched down approximately 1,000 ft beyond the threshold and applied brakes and reverse throttle. As the aircraft decelerated below 100kts the crew observed the B747 enter and cross the runway in front of them. The Frankfurt ground radar showed that the aircraft were 800m apart when the incursion occurred. The crew of the Airbus increased braking and reported to the tower at 19.11 "Just be advised we had an aircraft cross the runway right to left ahead of us."

The report concludes that the incident occurred because of a misunderstanding in communications between the Tower and B747 crew as a result of which the B747 crossed the runway in the path of a landing aircraft. The report also notes that due to the fact that the B747 has a considerably longer landing roll than the A320 the incident occurred on a part of the runway which was less critical than if two aircraft of similar landing rolls had been involved.

Frankfurt's ground movements radar is equipped with an incursion warning system which is intended to give the controller a visual and audio warning in the event of a conflict. At the time of the incident the warning system was de-activated in line with an instruction given in the Standard Operating Procedure.

The report issues a safety recommendation to the effect that the Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS) air traffic control company should ensure that airport ground movements monitoring systems equipped with conflict warning and alarm functions should give reliable warnings.  

Posted 090411