00:01More trouble on the tarmac for a terminal already under the spotlight.
00:07At around 10 o'clock on Sunday morning, a Virgin Australia flight bound for Perth was given the all-clear
00:13to take off.
00:15But seconds later, that plan was aborted when the crew noticed a Qantas 737 crossing the runway more than a
00:22kilometre in front of them.
00:24According to Air Services Australia, the incident wasn't deemed serious enough to report to the safety watchdog.
00:31Firstly, the controllers immediately rescinded the clearance.
00:34Secondly, the aircraft remained stationary.
00:37And thirdly, the distance of 1.3 kilometres is quite substantial.
00:43It wasn't the only issue at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport that day.
00:47Just three hours earlier, a Jetstar plane had to slam on its brakes to avoid hitting another aircraft.
00:54And there'd been another near miss involving two Qantas planes within that same fortnight.
01:00All three are now being probed by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
01:04The pilots and, in two of the incidents, air traffic control as well, realised the situation and took appropriate action.
01:12But we need to understand why they were forced to do that.
01:15The chances of a collision are high if nothing is done to rectify the root cause of the problem.
01:23These run-ins on the runway come amid a struggle to staff Sydney's air traffic control tower.
01:29That issue forced more than 150 flights to be delayed last weekend.
01:34Despite it all, passengers aren't panicking.
01:37Actually, no, I think we have a pretty good safety record in Australia and I feel safe flying all the
01:44time.
01:44Bad things happen here and now and then. It's, yeah, that's what it is.
01:48It's not going to change how I feel about jumping on a plane.
01:50But it's left safety authorities searching for answers.
Comments