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The Commonwealth-owned Airservices Australia, which manages the Australian skies, has continued to defend its position of not reporting a fresh safety incident that occurred at Australia’s busiest airport last week, where a Virgin Australia flight was forced to abort its takeoff after a Qantas aircraft crossed the runway.
According to The Guardian, Airservices Australia noted that they did not believe the incident met the required reporting threshold, primarily due to the ‘substantial distance’ between the two aircraft when the incursion occurred. According to the Chief Executive, Rob Sharp, the controllers had rescinded clearance while the aircraft were still more than 0.6 miles (1 km) apart.
Did Not Meet Mandatory Reporting Requirements
Sharp has defended that, based on the reporting criteria, the distance between the two aircraft did not meet the mandatory reporting requirements. Airservices Australia has, however, been open to reviewing the surrounding data and, if any learnings are found, making improvements.
On August 9, a Virgin Australia Boeing 737 and Qantas 737 were both departing from 
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD). The Virgin flight, operating as VA555, had been cleared for takeoff on Runway 34L and had applied thrust to thunder down the runway. At the same time, a Qantas flight, operating as QF728, crossed the active runway more than 0.78 miles (1.3 km) ahead.
This led the Virgin pilot to abruptly abort the planned takeoff, even though air traffic control had cleared both aircraft simultaneously. The incident was referred to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) four days following the event, and comes as the third safety issue at the airport in a number of weeks.
Around 60 Runway Incursions Reported In Australia Each Year
The Guardian reported that around 60 runway incursions are recorded in Australia each year, with the majority of these occurring at the country’s busiest airports. On August 9, the pilot of the Virgin aircraft identified the Qantas plane transiting across the runway in front of it and, out of an abundance of caution, reduced thrust and brought the aircraft to a stop as air traffic control rescinded clearance.
This incident occurred just hours after a Jetstar plane was forced to ‘slam on the brakes’ when an empty 
Qatar AirwaysBoeing 777-300ER was being towed across the apron and saw the Jetstar pilot take evasive action to avoid a collision. This resulted in the flight being canceled and a flight attendant onboard needing medical treatment.
This string of incidents has prompted nationwide attention as the country grapples with a shortage of air traffic controllers. These two incidents follow another near-miss in July, where a Qantas flight was cleared to cross the runway in front of another Qantaslink flight that had just landed. All three of these incidents remain under investigation by the ATSB.
ATSB Investigation Into Runway Incursions
ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell has outlined that he continues to seek reasons for the delayed report for the Virgin/Qantas incident, and that currently it was ‘too early’ to make any conclusions. The Bureau will continue to review organizational and systemic issues that could have contributed to the incident involving the planes.
“This type of runway incursion and loss of separation is a transport safety concern, and we immediately commenced an investigation upon being notified of this yesterday afternoon,” Mitchell explained.
The ATSB has disclosed that, at the time of the incident, there was a supervisory training situation in the Sydney control tower, and Airservices has confirmed that an experienced worker undertaking an endorsement check issued the clearance. Other experienced controllers monitored the worker and stepped in to order the clearance canceled. Current staffing shortages are facing the industry; according to the air traffic controllers union, more than 140 experienced controllers have left the industry.
