Aircraft landing at Toronto airport forced to avoid 'distracted' employee on runway: report

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A plane destined for Toronto Pearson Airport was forced to abort an initial landing attempt to avoid an unauthorized vehicle operated by a ‘distracted’ maintenance employee who crossed its path on the runway in 2022, investigators with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) have determined.

A report on the incident was released Wednesday by the TSB following the completion of an investigation conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, an independent federal agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline, and rail transportation occurrences.

According to the report, the incident happened shortly after midnight on Oct. 15, 2022 when an Air Canada Boeing 737 was on its final approach for the runway.

At the same time, the driver of a Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) maintenance vehicle crossed the active runway. The driver did this, the report states, despite having received and read back an instruction to stay off the runway.

An air traffic controller observed the situation as it was happening and was able to instruct the aircraft’s crew to abort the attempt to land mid-procedure.

The flight crew complied and the aircraft landed uneventfully following a second approach,” the report states.

According to the report, the driver had navigated onto the runway as his “attention was split between his driving duties and the planning of upcoming tasks.”

“As a result, he was paying less attention to monitoring the route for hazards,” it said. “As well, because the driver had crossed the runway at the displaced threshold many times without stopping, the mental model he developed did not include stopping at the holding position, even though he read back the instruction to hold short.”

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the GTAA said safety is the authority's top priority and that it takes all incidents very seriously.

"Runway incursions are extremely rare at Toronto Pearson, and we work hard to make sure everyone stays safe on our airfield," the spokesperson said. "We are committed to learning from situations like this and will review the report in detail and continue to work with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada."

According to the TSB, this incident illustrates “how a lapse in attention, even by an experienced airport maintenance driver, can result in a runway incursion.”

The agency has been monitoring runway incursions since 2010. According to the agency, the aviation industry has made gradual changes to address the risk, “however, despite these improvements, the overall rate of runway incursions continues to increase.”

In 2010, there was an average rate of 5.3 incursions per 100 000 arrivals and departures. By 2021, that figure had doubled to an average of 10.7 per 100,000, with 471 incidents recorded.

While the agency says there is no one solution to the risk of such occurrences, collaboration from all sectors of the aviation industry is required to find tailored solutions for each airport.