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The near-misses causing airport chaos · The Front

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, August thirteen, twenty twenty six. Japan's ambassador in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: canberrac has a Hero Suzuki says Australia has reassured Japan
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Anthony Albanesi did not intend to make a crude joke
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: about a gift of melons from Prime Minister Sanae Takeichi.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: If you're still wondering how on earth we got tangled
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: up in this diplomatic drama, scroll back in your feed
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to Wednesday's episode on Melingate. Something alarming is going on
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: at Australian airports. Aircraft on the tarmac involved in near
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  Speaker 1: miss incidents that could have been catastrophic, plus critical shortages
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  Speaker 1: of air traffic controllers, and a public fight between the
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  Speaker 1: government and the agency in charge of keeping us safe.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Our aviation expert Robin Ironside is here in just a moment,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: a busy Sunday at Sydney Airport. It's the usual hubbub planes, trucks, buses,
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  Speaker 1: ground crew, passengers and heavy equipment all moving around and
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  Speaker 1: on board a Jetstar flight preparing for takeoff. The pilot
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  Speaker 1: suddenly has to slam on the brakes.
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  Speaker 2: A close call as two aircraft came within meters of
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  Speaker 2: colliding on a Sydney runway.
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  Speaker 3: The Southern Stop.
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  Speaker 2: We have had a situation where one of our Cava
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  Speaker 2: cruz engined. A ground controller and tug operator were temporarily
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  Speaker 2: stood down as part of protocol.
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  Speaker 4: There was a jet Star flight. It was a three
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  Speaker 4: twenty that was pushing back and it had been given
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  Speaker 4: clearance to push back and taxi to the runway. As
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  Speaker 4: it was doing that, a Katar Triple seven, which is
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  Speaker 4: a wide body aircraft very large. It had completed its
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  Speaker 4: flight from Doha. It had disembarked the passengers so it
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: was being taken by a tug driver to a parking
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  Speaker 4: area and as those two aircraft were moving, they almost
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  Speaker 4: came together.
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  Speaker 1: This is Robin Ironside, the Australian's Aviation rider. Fortunately, the
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Jetstar pilot saw the Katar Triple seven slammed on the brakes,
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  Speaker 1: which caused a cabin crew member to fall over and
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  Speaker 1: break a wrist, and the towing sheer pins between the
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  Speaker 1: tug and the Kata Triple seven broke, so that sent
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  Speaker 1: the Triple seven sort of moving further and they came
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  Speaker 1: to a stop almost nose to nose, just fifty meters apart,
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  Speaker 1: so that certainly is considered a near collision. That's how
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating it, and it
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  Speaker 1: will certainly be interesting to see what directions both pilots
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  Speaker 1: were given from air traffic control and whether or not
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  Speaker 1: those directions were followed. When things are moving about at
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  Speaker 1: all on a tarmac, is everything controlled by air traffic
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  Speaker 1: control or are vehicles allowed to kind of zip around
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  Speaker 1: like catering trucks or buses in certain areas on tarmac?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, the vehicles they have to go through quite intense
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  Speaker 4: training to be able to drive those vehicles on the
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  Speaker 4: airside parts of the airport. They undergo something like six
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  Speaker 4: months of training to be able to do that. The
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: aircraft themselves so are under their direction of air traffic control.
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  Speaker 4: So I guess aircraft that's been towed by a tug
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  Speaker 4: driver would still be under the direction of air traffic control.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. And if this kind of thing had resulted in
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  Speaker 1: a collision house serious would that have been robin would
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: potentially people have lost their lives?
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  Speaker 4: It It doesn't really bear thinking about, but there were
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  Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty one passengers and six crew on
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  Speaker 4: that Jet Star aircraft, and given that the Triple seven
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  Speaker 4: is a much larger aircraft, it's hard to see that
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  Speaker 4: people wouldn't have been very seriously injured all lost their
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: lives at Sydney Airport, a very close call involving these
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: two planes has just been averted a Quantus bowing.
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  Speaker 1: This is only two weeks after something a little bit
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  Speaker 1: similar happened, this time involving a Quantus flight.
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  Speaker 4: What went on there There was a Quantus seven three
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  Speaker 4: seven that was taxing to the runway. It had been
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  Speaker 4: given clearance by a traffic control to cross runway thirty
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  Speaker 4: four L. This was at the same time that a
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  Speaker 4: Quantuslink Q four hundred, so a turboprop was actually landing
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  Speaker 4: on that same runway. Fortunately, the pilot of the seven
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  Speaker 4: three seven sighted the aircraft and pulled up just as
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: air traffic control withdrew the clearance. So once again that
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  Speaker 4: was too close for comfort and would have certainly resulted
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  Speaker 4: in the depths of many people.
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  Speaker 1: It's remarkable, isn't it, with these incredibly sophisticated aircraft that
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  Speaker 1: can fly themselves when they're in mid air that we're
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  Speaker 1: relying on visual sightings by pilots to avert what could
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  Speaker 1: be absolutely catastrophic moments.
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  Speaker 4: Well, the modern aircraft are fitted with what's called a
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  Speaker 4: traffic collision avoidance system a TEA CASS. But these systems
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  Speaker 4: they don't operate when they're on the ground or descending
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  Speaker 4: below a certain level, simply because there would be so
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  Speaker 4: many aircraft around them, they'd be going off all the
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  Speaker 4: time and the alarms would be constant. So they're I
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  Speaker 4: guess designed not to work within a certain distance of
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  Speaker 4: the runway and when they're on the ground, so they
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  Speaker 4: certainly do rely on vision and also the air traffic controllers.
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  Speaker 1: There was a shocking incident at an airport in New
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  Speaker 1: York Lakwadia in March robin where an Air Canada plane
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  Speaker 1: did actually crash into a truck that was trying to
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  Speaker 1: cross its path.
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  Speaker 2: And Air Canada expressplate from Montreal colliding with a fire
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  Speaker 2: truck on the Runwaydrup.
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  Speaker 4: Blond stop snap, Drup blond stop.
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  Speaker 3: The crash killing the pilot and co pilot.
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  Speaker 1: That was a horrifying incident, but it made me wonder
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  Speaker 1: are these things happening all the time and we're just
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  Speaker 1: not really hearing about them because they're often near misses,
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  Speaker 1: or is something changing? Is this happening more than it
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  Speaker 1: used to.
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  Speaker 4: Well, the ATSB said they usually hear of about sixty
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: such incidents in Australia any year, but they don't really
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  Speaker 4: involve these large commercial passenger aircraft. They're usually much smaller
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  Speaker 4: light planes on regional aerodromes that are coming too close
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: to one another. So for two large commercial aircraft to
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: almost collide not once, but twice in a fortnight is
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  Speaker 4: pretty unusual. The fact that they've both occurred at Sydney
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  Speaker 4: Airport is something that the ATSP will be looking at
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  Speaker 4: carefully as part of its investigation.
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  Speaker 1: The transport ministers involved and that takes it.
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  Speaker 4: To a whole new level.
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  Speaker 1: It needed to be dealt with.
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  Speaker 3: We needed to do better and Air Services needs to
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  Speaker 3: do better.
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  Speaker 2: But they are one part of a very complex system.
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  Speaker 1: Katherine King berated the head of Air Services Australia, Rob Sharp,
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  Speaker 1: who apologized, we're.
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  Speaker 2: Very sorry for those delays.
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  Speaker 4: Grese cineceerely apologize.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me what Air Services Australia does and why he
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: was the one who was in trouble for this.
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  Speaker 4: Well, he's the CEO of air Services. He's very well paid.
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  Speaker 4: He's paid over a million dollars a year and the
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  Speaker 4: buck stops with him, so I think it's legitimate that
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  Speaker 4: he was the one hauled over the coals. They're responsible
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: for navigation services in Australia, that's civilian and military, and
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: they're all so responsible for aviation firefighters. And ever since
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: the pandemic, when one hundred and twenty air traffic controllers
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  Speaker 4: were given early retirement packages, they have struggled to retain
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: or rebuild for that loss of experience and those sheer numbers.
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  Speaker 4: I guess the air traffic came back much faster than
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: they are anticipating. So that's why we have seen these
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: issues with flight delays and staff shortages persistently since twenty
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  Speaker 4: twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: It seems to be an industry where they struggle to
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  Speaker 1: recruit people. We hear about air traffic control shortages quite
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  Speaker 1: a lot, that there's a very long pathway to be
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  Speaker 1: experienced enough to be put in charge of a runway,
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  Speaker 1: or are they struggling to get people to even sign
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  Speaker 1: up for these jobs.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it is a global issue at the moment, and
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  Speaker 4: I do suspect that perhaps there is this something that's
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  Speaker 4: not terribly attractive about the job. Although in Australia they
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: have unlimited sick leave in recognition of the fact that
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: they can't come to work if they're fatigued. That's a
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  Speaker 4: legitimate excuse not to turn up. When you've got to
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  Speaker 4: concentrate at the intensity that they're expected to. They can't
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  Speaker 4: afford to be nodding off or slipping in their concentration,
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  Speaker 4: and that's why they're frustrated the air traffic controllers at
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  Speaker 4: the moment, because they're saying because of the shortage, they're
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: constantly being called in on days off. They can be
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  Speaker 4: called in three or four times on their days off
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  Speaker 4: and it's become very frustrating for them. They can be
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  Speaker 4: working sort of ten days straight. And yes, I guess
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  Speaker 4: that's another thing the ATSP will be looking at to
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  Speaker 4: see if that's part of the problem and that's now
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  Speaker 4: leading to near collisions.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the last thing you want is a grumpy,
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  Speaker 1: tired person in charge of air traffic control. I vividly
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  Speaker 1: remember the movie Pushing Tin, in which they're all kind
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  Speaker 1: of pretty loose characters screaming at each other and under
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  Speaker 1: extreme pressure of course they save the day and the
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  Speaker 1: world is safe again thanks to the air traffic can
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  Speaker 1: trollers in the ultimate high pressure job thirteen four thousand
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  Speaker 1: expect follow trophy traffic to Nick fel zone was in
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  Speaker 1: control of everyone's life. The problem my sky, but his zone.
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  Speaker 1: So I mean, our lives are in these people's hands,
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  Speaker 1: aren't they. It is.
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  Speaker 4: It's a really highly responsible job and unfortunately it also
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  Speaker 4: has one of the highest suicide rates of any profession.
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  Speaker 4: So I guess that puts into perspective that the sorts
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  Speaker 4: of pressures that they're facing, as well as the intense
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  Speaker 4: concentration that they have to provide for the job.
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  Speaker 1: Most of these problems can be solved with more money.
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  Speaker 1: Is that what Air Services Australia needs to just simply
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  Speaker 1: train and hire or recruit from overseas more traffic controllers.
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  Speaker 4: Well, yes, that's certainly one of the reasons it's giving
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  Speaker 4: for increasing its air navigation charges. It's applied to the
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  Speaker 4: A Triple C to increase its air navigation charges by
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  Speaker 4: sixty percent over the next five years. Airlines are pushing
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: back against that, but the Air Services says these charges
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  Speaker 4: these increases are necessary just to cover the costs.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up as the airlines cut costs, are customers the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: ones who have to pay. Aviation is an industry of
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  Speaker 1: such flux Robin and the change that you've witnessed in
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: the years since the pandemic, as you've been covering it,
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  Speaker 1: is just unbelievable. I mean, we went from airlines shutdowns,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: to planes being parked in the desert, to suddenly having
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to start up again, to apparently Australians not being fit
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  Speaker 1: to fly and being too slow to check their bags
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  Speaker 1: in the latest thing is that Jetstar is talking about
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  Speaker 1: charging people to put their bags in the overhead cabins.
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  Speaker 3: From February twod you will still be able to travel
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  Speaker 3: on Jetstar flights without paying for check in, but you'll
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: have to pack your things in a very small bag
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  Speaker 3: that fits under the chair something like that.
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  Speaker 1: It's really divided travelers, and of course everyone's frustrated when
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: someone's trying to jam a bag up there. What was
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: your take on that as a flyer and as an expert.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: Well, I do think it's a bit cynical by Jetstar,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: especially the fact that they tried to spin it as
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: a positive for passengers that they no longer have to
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: wait their bags at the gate. It's clearly a revenue
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  Speaker 4: raising initiative and it's probably legitimate given their fuel whells
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: have increased twofold threefold this year because of the fuel
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: price rises, So it's a difficult one. I'd think customers
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: have every right to feel outraged. I mean, they currently
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: can use the overhead locker space providing that their luggage
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: doesn't weigh more than seven kilos, and from February second,
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: they won't be able to unless they pay the equivalent
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: of what they've spent on their fare. So it does
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: seem a bit grim.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: That's what you know. You'll mention of the increased potential
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: charges by air Services Australia makes me wonder about like
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: it's ultimately the passenger who's going to be paying for that,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: isn't it absolutely?
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: And air Services is spinning it by saying, oh, look,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: it's only a dollar fifty a passenger per flight, but
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  Speaker 4: when you add that up over the thousands of passengers
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: who travel every week every month, then that's quite a
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: bit of money. And yes, certainly the airlines won't hesitate
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: to pass it on, but they're also under pressure on
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: a lot of fronts. They've got new enterprise agreements where
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: staff are demanding wage increases that are in line with
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: inflation or more than that, they've got increased catering costs
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: as well as their fuel bills. So yeah, it's pretty
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: grim for travelers, I think.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Robin inside, thank you very much.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: It's a pleasure.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Robin ironside is. It's The Australian's aviation writer. You can
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: check out all her reporting right now at the Australian
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: dot com dot au