Air France A321 at Barcelona on Apr 28th 2015, crew corrects ATC instruction and thus avoids runway incursion

Last Update: March 17, 2016 / 14:58:25 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 28, 2015

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air France

Flight number
AF-1449

Departure
Barcelona, Spain

Destination
Paris Charles de Gaulle, France

Aircraft Registration
F-GTAZ

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

An Air France Airbus A321-200, registration F-GTAZ performing flight AF-1449 from Barcelona,SP (Spain) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) with 189 passengers and 7 crew, was taxiing from stand 221 to the assigned departure runway 25L and received clearance to cross runway 02. The aircraft reached the hold short line of runway 02 at 06:58L, noticed the stop bar lights were illuminated, stopped the aircraft before the hold short line and radioed ground control to verify whether they were indeed cleared to cross runway 02. At this point ground control instructed the aircraft to hold position.

A TNT Airways Boeing 737-400 freighter, registration OE-IAP performing freight flight 3V-421J from Liege (Belgium) to Barcelona,SP (Spain) with 2 crew, was on final approach to Barcelona's runway 02 and had been cleared to land on runway 02 about one minute prior to the Air France crew stopping their aircraft at the hold short line.

Spain's CIAIAC reported the aerodrome was just about to switch from night to day operation at 07:00L, which would remove runway 02 from service and switch all traffic to both runways 25. The CIAIAC have opened an investigation into the occurrence.

On Mar 17th 2016 the CIAIAC released their final report concluding the probable cause of the incident was:

The investigation has concluded that the cause of the incident was that the airplane with callsign AFR1449 was cleared to cross the runway due to an oversight by the Central Ground controller.

The CIAIAC analysed:

As noted in previous investigations, the Barcelona-El Prat Airport has a significant factor conditioning its operations, namely the fact that it has to change its configuration every day at 07:00 and 23:00 due to problems stemming from the environmental effect resulting from the noise generated by its activity in certain neighborhoods surrounding the airport.

This situation requires the use of the cross runway (RWY 02) from 23:00 to 07:00. The most significant problems always occur around 07:00, which is when the nighttime to daytime configuration change takes place. Shortly before, many aircraft start taxiing to take off, starting at 07:00, and while taxiing they are forced to cross runway 02, often more than once.

...

Within this context, in this specific case it seems clear that the instruction given by the central ground controller to the aircraft taxing on runway D was due to a mental lapse. This is supported by the fact that initially, when the crew saw that the stop bars were on and asked if the instruction was correct, the controller automatically replied to hold short, unaware that he had given an incorrect instruction until the captain informed him that he would report the incident. It was then that the controller admitted to having doubts as to the instruction he had given, and it was not until he heard the voice recordings that he was sure of his mistake.

...

To conclude, it should be noted that the stop bar lighting system worked perfectly and that the crew of the aircraft with callsign AFR1449 reacted as expected. Their actions helped ensure that the event remained no more than an incident.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 28, 2015

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air France

Flight number
AF-1449

Departure
Barcelona, Spain

Destination
Paris Charles de Gaulle, France

Aircraft Registration
F-GTAZ

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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