Sydney Airport near miss assessed at ‘most serious level’

A near miss runway incursion at Sydney Airport has been categorised at the most serious level on an international scale, as investigators reveal predictions of “elevated fatigue risks” for staff at the time.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau released four preliminary reports on Wednesday related to six recent incidents at Sydney Airport.

The reports do not make findings or recommendations, but set out the events and operational context in which they took place, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Commissioner Angus Mitchell said.

“In all six incidents, safety defences operated in some form. Air traffic controllers, pilots, or ground crew acted to prevent more serious outcomes. Nonetheless, we need to understand why those interventions were required,” Mitchell said.

The first incident, involving a Boeing 737 and a Bombardier DCH-8, on the morning of July 27, has been assessed as a “Cat A runway incursion”.

“The most serious level on the international scale, and only the third such incident in Australia since our records began in 2003,” Mitchell said.

Other incidents include a Jetstar A320 suddenly braking to avoid a Qatar Airways Boeing 777 on August 9, causing a flight attendant to fracture their wrist. That same day a Qantas Boeing 737 was cleared to cross the runaway in front of a Virgin 737 that had just been cleared for takeoff.

Then on August 18, a Qantas A321 had to brake to let a Qantas 737 pass in front of it.

Air traffic control staffing levels have been strained globally and emerged as “a recurring line of inquiry” during the investigations at Sydney Airport, Mitchell said.

“I will stress that we have not determined whether staffing resources directly contributed to any occurrence, or whether they were simply underlying conditions that were effectively being managed by Airservices [Australia].

“However, our report also notes that Airservices’ own roster modelling predicted elevated fatigue risks for staff at the time of many of the occurrences, in some cases applicable to multiple personnel on the shift.

“Whilst an elevated fatigue risk does not necessarily mean a controller was fatigued, or that fatigue affected performance, we are, however, examining the effectiveness of the measures that were in place to manage this pre-identified risk,” Mitchell said.

Airservices Australia, which provides air traffic services, said the interim reports would be reviewed and the organisation would continue working with the bureau as it finalises its investigations.

“The aviation safety system is designed to manage operational risks through multiple safeguards and, based on the information currently available, the recent occurrences do not indicate an immediate safety risk to the travelling public,” an Airservices spokesperson said.

“We have publicly acknowledged workforce pressures at Sydney and are addressing them through our Sydney Service Resilience Plan.

“Our individual occurrence reviews noted no correlation to fatigue.

“The ATSB in its preliminary reports has not determined that staffing, overtime or fatigue contributed to these occurrences, and has noted that an elevated modelled fatigue risk does not mean a controller was fatigued or that fatigue affected their performance.”

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