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CAA: Airport News, "Near collision on runway in Juneau, Alaska brings change"
Saturday, June 10, 2000
NEAR COLLISION ON RUNWAY IN JUNEAU BRINGS CHANGE
The Associated Press
The near-collision of a snowplow and an Alaska Airlines jet at the Juneau
Airport in November prompted procedural and communications changes, a
National Transportation Safety Board investigator said.
The hours of the airport's control tower were extended, ground workers got
added awareness training, and more stringent aircraft location procedures
were put in place, investigator Scott Erickson told the Juneau Empire.
The NTSB released its fact-finding report on the incident and plans to
release a conclusion on probable cause sometime in the future.
The Alaska Airlines flight from Sitka was carrying 53 passengers and five
crew members when it landed about 6:45 a.m. on Nov. 2, 15 minutes before the
airport control tower was scheduled to open.
The 737-400 jet came within 32 feet of the snowplow, according to the
report.
The Federal Aviation Administration's flight service station knew the
airport was training a new employee on a snowplow on the runway, according
to the report.
When the airport control tower is closed - from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. in
November - airport workers and pilots communicate by radio with the FAA
flight service station, which is not within sight of the runway.
At 6:32 on the morning of the incident, the Alaska Airlines jet told the FAA
it was at the Sisters intersection about 25 miles from the airport, the
report said.
At 6:34, the snowplow driver called the FAA station and said: "... if you
have no reported traffic, like to have men and equipment on the runway."
At 6:35, the FAA specialist responded: "No known traffic at this time, the
jet's due in, in about 10 minutes at 45 (minutes past the hour)."
At 6:42, Flight 73 called the FAA station and said: "Ah, we just landed and
there was a truck on the runway; we, ah, just barely missed it ... we had to
swerve very far to the left of the runway to miss the truck."
The FAA specialist responded that he was sorry and that he had missed Flight
73's last position report.
"With the tower closed, the airspace is basically uncontrolled airspace,"
Erickson said.
The airport has since expanded its control tower hours, from 6 a.m. to 11
p.m.
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