Two planes nearly crashed during traffic controller's assessment
Thursday, 4 October 2018
A traffic controller overwhelmed by their annual assessment at Hamilton airport almost resulted in the collision of two planes.
On December 17, 2015, two light planes involved in training came within 0.2 nautical miles of each other while on approach to the aerodrome before taking action to prevent a potential crash.
There were reports of two other aircraft being involved as well.
All aircraft were under air traffic control.
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The Transport Accident Investigation Commission found that the incidents occurred because the controller became overwhelmed by the circumstances on the day and lost situational awareness of the aircraft within the control zone.
On that Thursday, the traffic controller was undergoing an annual proficiency assessment in the Hamilton air traffic control tower.
A two-person watch was on duty in the tower and air traffic in the circuit patterns was high but normal for the peak period of the day.
A planner was working with the controller and an assessor sat behind to observe and record the controller's actions.
During the assessment, a series of four incidents occurred that related to the controller's management of air traffic in the vicinity of the aerodrome.
Following the fourth incident, the assessor stopped the assessment and took over as the aerodrome controller to resolve the situation.
There were no collisions and nobody was injured.
The Commission found that the usual briefing procedure before conducting the assessment was not fully followed and that this likely affected the team dynamics in the control tower.
It also found that Airways Corporation of New Zealand Limited had a tradition of posting recently qualified controllers with limited experience to Hamilton aerodrome, which is one of the county's busiest.
This meant it had the potential to raise the risk profile of the air traffic control unit.
The Commission identified that there were safety issues, with the standard of team resource management in the Hamilton air traffic control tower did not match good industry practice.
And some aerodrome controllers are 'over-controlling' visual flight rules traffic in and around the control zone, which is unnecessarily congesting the radio frequencies and risks causing difficulties for inexperienced pilots and those for whom English is their second language.
They also identified that changes in the size and shape of the Hamilton control zone have shifted some visual flight rules traffic congestion to prominent points outside the control zone, and likely increased the risk of collision in those areas.
The Commission has recommended two key safety issues that need to be addressed.
They need to ensure that assessments are properly managed and that every team member is clear on their responsibilities. And their involvement in the assessment process.
And that clear, succinct and short radio communication between air traffic control and aircraft is pivotal to safe operations.