Delta Airlines B752 at Atlanta on Mar 11th 2011, loss comm after departure, multiple losses of separation
Last Update: August 8, 2012 / 14:51:24 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Mar 11, 2011
Airline
Delta Airlines
Flight number
DL-2086
Departure
Atlanta, United States
Destination
New York La Guardia, United States
Aircraft Registration
N693DL
Aircraft Type
Boeing 757-200
ICAO Type Designator
B752
The NTSB stated in their preliminary report, that the aircraft's radar data block did not auto-acquire on the controller displays, possibly because the transponder failed or had not been turned on, the aircraft therefore was only displayed as an enhanced primary target. After the tower instructed the crew to switch to departure the crew read the instruction back correctly but did not report on departure frequency. The departure controller remained unaware that the airplane had departed until he noticed the tower had scanned the flight strip indicating the airplane had departed, but he wasn't talking to the aircraft. The airplane, that had departed to the west, turned south and northeast following the RNAV departure route and climbed to 10,000 feet. About 8 minutes after being instructed to contact departure the crew reported again on tower, was sent onto departure frequency again and radio contact was established.
According to radar data the closest lateral proximity (no vertical distances provided) to a Beech 55 was 1.44 miles, to a Pilatus 12 0.81 miles and to a Canadair CRJ-200 2.36 miles below required minimum separation.
On Jun 6th 2012 the NTSB released their factual report adding, that the crew had not turned on their transponder upon takeoff from Atlanta's runway 27R. Procedures would require tower controller to verify that the data block auto-acquired on their radar screens before handing the aircraft off to departure, the tower controller on duty however did not notice the data block was still missing when he handed the aircraft off to departure. The crew did not contact departure. About 7 minutes after becoming airborne the crew asked on tower frequency "...you still want us down here at 10?", tower replied "DAL2086 youÂ’re supposed to be on departure sir." About 20 seconds later the aircraft reported on departure frequency.
In the meantime the departure controller had noticed he had a flight strip but no contact and no radar target and checked with tower. Tower confirmed the aircraft had departed, a search for a target showed a number of primary returns only, none of which could be positively identified as flight DL-2086. While departure, tower and traffic management controllers were still trying to identify a primary target following the assigned departure route of DL-2086, the aircraft reported again on tower.
After the aircraft finally reported on departure the controller immediately instructed the crew to verify their transponder was turned on, 6 seconds later the data block appeared on the radar screen about 20nm east of Atlanta.
On Aug 8th the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the incident was:
The air traffic controllersÂ’ failure to adhere to required radar identification procedures, which resulted in loss of separation between the departing Boeing 757 and three other airplanes. Contributing to the incident was the pilotsÂ’ inadequate preflight checks, which resulted in the airplane departing with an inoperative transponder.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Mar 11, 2011
Airline
Delta Airlines
Flight number
DL-2086
Departure
Atlanta, United States
Destination
New York La Guardia, United States
Aircraft Registration
N693DL
Aircraft Type
Boeing 757-200
ICAO Type Designator
B752
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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