Runway Incursion Charlotte Douglas International Airport

Courtesy FAA
NTSB INVESTIGATING RUNWAY INCURSION AT CHARLOTTE DOUGLAS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a runway incursion that occurred on Friday morning at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) involving a general aviation aircraft and a regional jet airliner bound for New Bern, NC (EWN).
At about 10:17 a.m. on May 29, a PSA Airlines CRJ-200 regional jet operated as US Airways Express flight 2390, was cleared for takeoff on runway 18L. After the regional jet was into its takeoff roll, a Pilatus PC-12, a single engine turboprop aircraft, was cleared to taxi into position and hold farther down the same runway in preparation for a departure roll that was to begin at the taxiway A intersection. After the ground-based collision warning system (ASDE-X) alerted controllers to the runway incursion, the takeoff clearance for the regional jet was cancelled. The pilot of the PC-12, seeing the regional jet coming down the runway on a collision course, taxied the PC-12 to the side of the runway. The FAA reported that the regional jet stopped approximately 10 feet from the PC-12.
Visual meteorological conditions prevailed with 9 miles visibility. There were no reported injuries to any of the 42 passengers or crew of three aboard the jet, or to any of those on the PC-12.
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[@dave0mary]

During my training for private, I was in a Tomahawk at Champaign, IL, and had just been cleared for takeoff. A moment later (virtually no wind) the controller cleared a King Air to take off on an intersecting runway. I said: "Can you hold that King Air for a second?" A quick reply was "thanks 22 Kilo for correcting me". Yes ... pay attention to other planes instructions when manuevering.

[@Itsmeeman1]

Moral of this story? Don't take anything for granted. Open your eyes and see for yourself.

[@jkiang]

@vtwinbreed Position and Hold means hold on the run way and be ready to take off while holding short means staying behind the hold short line. The term position and hold has now changed to "line up and wait" to clear this confusion.

[@N17KA]

Hey that's my dad working ground

[@RUssianPilot757]

Really?

[@seaniam81]

Wow that was really really close

[@KevinHarris]

That is my home town . I go to the airport sometimes to watch the planes (I have no life:( but I have never seen this happen. Wow pretty scary.

[@cskog001]

I would make note though that although it was neither 9Dr nor 390's fault and it was clear that the controller caused this incursion, this goes to show the importance of paying attention to the radio to all communications, not just those intended for your aircraft. 390 was given takeoff clearance on 18L and immediately after so was 9DR, either pilot, if paying closer attention could have prevented this. But again, don't mean to put them at fault in any way, they arent the 'controllers'

[@chrisgast]

At @0:41, shouldn't ATC have said: "409DR, Charlotte ground, roger RWY 18L, hold short of TXW A on D"? Instead he said, "Hold short of TXW R on D for crossing traffic". It seems ATC gave the wrong taxiway - Romeo, instead of Alpha. ATC seemed to have assumed 490 already crossed 18L. Am I wrong here?

[@jkiang]

That's why when I'm doing an intersection take off, I readback all instruction with the intersecting taxiway regardless if the tower did or not. In this situation: "N9DR, Charlotte Runway 18L position and hold" "Position and Hold, Runway 18L at Alpha, N9DR" If I didn't catch JIA390 taking off full length, hopefully tower will catch it when I mention I'm at 18L @ A

[@Mediumdave1983]

100% agree, I am often surprised at how lax and unclear a lot of radio transmissions and readbacks are. I always tried to be doubly clear when confirming runway clearances (crossing, holding, lining up, take off etc.). To be honest, I thought it was mandatory to always fully announce the full instruction both by ATC, and on the readback, but a lot of radio users seem to have the idea that they have to be 'cool' and 'speedy', instead of clear and concise. I get that at busy airports there is a lot going on and you can't tie up the frequency, but there are minimum readback standards for a reason - safety! Less haste, more speed.

[@cskog001]

@SVnerd , correct. 9DR was given clear instruction to position and hold on 18L intersection Alpha. However, this was after Blue Streak 390 was just given takeoff clearance on 18L. She gave that clearance because its standard procedure to clear an aircraft for takeoff and immediately give next position and hold. It is clear that the controller was intending to route the aircraft behind bluestreak into position because she did not say 9DR Position and hold at Intersection alpha, which is std.

[@zetson]

I have no idea if somebody have pointed this out before, but I think that the ground controller did not mention to the tower controller that N409DR was on the other side of RWY 18L at intersection TWY A or tthat the tower controller forgot that N409DR was at intersection A/18L. That explains why the tower controller gave clearance for N409DR to line up RWY 18L right after she saw that JIA390 was moving, since she probably assumed that N409DR was the next aircraft awaiting departure at TWY C

[@lipkinasl]

Assumptions are dangerous! Check everything, assume everyone else is an idiot - only way to stay safe.

[@topgun966]

He had clearance to enter runway at intersection alpha and hold on runway. The controller assumed he was taxiing behind the CRJ and would see the jet in front not behind.

[@jesse00pno]

topgun966 I concur 100%.

[@N0616JCProductions]

That's one close incursion. I won't want to see that on my next flight.

[@JumpStartation]

@JoseJimeniz JIA is not jetBlue... jetBlue is JBU. JIA is PSA Airlines, said "Blue Streak" on the radio.

[@chrisgast]

@JoseJimeniz Oh, ok. Thanks, man! Really appreciate it.

[@brwneyedgrl76forever54]

My brother was the Captain flying this PSA flight. ❤️❤️❤️

[@Borck103]

holy crap that was close!

[@aescobar32]

why did the controler tell 9DR to position and hold???

[@SVnerd]

Thanks, that makes sense now. Gotta clean my ears out and really listen carefully to those ATC messages

[@SVnerd]

I think what was suppose to happen was the 9DR was expecting to take off on rwy 18L from taxiway Alpha instead of the beginning of the threshold. Tower gave him instructions to position and hold on the runway but forgot about the other aircraft departing from the base of 18L. I might have misinterpreted the ATC since I'm a bit rusty and I had to listen to it 3 times to figure it out.

[@TG626]

Let me see if I understand this. 9DR was told "Keep taxing until you are in take off position on the runway, then stop and wait for clearance to take off" Correct? So, when he kept moving to cross over 18L he was heading to taxiway C (Charlie) to take it to the base of 18L, where he would have moved out onto the runway and then stopped per instructions.... Am I understanding this correctly?

[@jmitterii2]

Did the ATC lady not have visual contact with 9DR? Or was there really an aircraft on 23 that was mistaken to be 9DR not shown in the presentation? Spooky.

[@mnpopeye]

I have first hand experience here at MSP..YES ATC people DO make mistakes...even our own ATC "fem fatale" wiz-kid known locally as the DRAGON LADY...yes, she screws up like any other human being...

[@cmritchie04]

@EduEnYT their not crappy radios they are VHF AM.. they sound crappy because they were converted over to digital and put on youtube.

[@JoseJimeniz]

@chrisgast The blue plane (JIA390) is in position on runway 18L, while the yellow plane (N409DR) is holding just short of the runway (at "alpha"). The blue plane (JIA390) is then cleared for takeoff and starts rolling. Right after that the controller instructs the yellow plane (N409DR) to taxi onto that *same* runway that Jet Blue is trying to takeoff from. The controller needed to wait until the JetBlue took off before clearing the Pilatus to taxi onto the runway,

[@nanomusic]

That came so close to a disaster.

[@roymckenzie6241]

UN-FREAKIN' - BELIEVABLE ,,, If I'm cleared to taxi into position ,and I look up and see a big ol JET coming right down my throat on the same runway ,,, I don't know 'bout you ,,, but I hold my position ,,,,

[@ericsimon6580]

Roy Mckenzie Yes but it doesn't look like he cleared the arrival/departure corridors for the runway before lining up. It's a very common error with incursions.

[@chrisgast]

And I guess @3:22, ATC didn't realize that 409 was still on TXW Alpha. ATC thought 409 was on Romeo, hence the previous ATC mistake. The 409 pilot mistaked here too, since he didn't hold before a runway, when he was told to position and hold (and even acknowledged this). A lot of mistakes here.

[@brucer69]

she thought 409dr was a full length departure. I can see the human error there. Just lucky no one was hurt. If she knew they were departing at alpha the correct phraseology to look for would have been "Runway 18L intersection Alpha Position and hold" She just said 18L.

[@vtwinbreed]

@JoseJimeniz As far as I heard, controller instructed position and hold, but maybe I missed the part where she instructed position and hold at their take-off point. I was under assumption position and hold was at the runway, but then again, I never did hear controller give clearance verbally to cross runway 18L

[@alixena9340]

OMG, I wonder why there is not more fatal mass casualty crashes involving this sort of thing. That was way too easy to have been catastrophic. Change of underwear needed for flight crew of both planes, as well as the passengers on the left hand side of Blue Streak.....

[@taotoo2]

computer says nooo.......

[@benfalas]

omg. That's not good.

[@floopy312]

whats the visibility distance here??

[@ShadowSix_]

Where can I find these clips like these? I see the play and pause button so there must be a public link.

[@d0rkiishchris]

If she had just come on shift, and did not know that 9DR was not in the standard line of waiting traffic she may have missed that. Notice she did not say taxi into pos. and hold intersection Alpha, but not all controllers do. Just saying, if she had all her data strips in line and did not know the pilatus was not in line, or that there was even a pilatus, it could have been missed. Its very important grnd controllers and local controllers communicate well. This woman can't talk properly.

[@vvkim8112]

Why don't they just say "stop, stop, stop"? It's just ridiculous to call a call sign before finally saying "cancel takeoff clearance" in this urgency. The FAA should make new SOP for this kind of situation. When collision appears imminent, ATC just shout "stop, stop, stop" on the radio and all the aircraft on the frequency should immediately stop.

[@INTERCONfly]

This is called an "Operational Error". That's when ATC makes the mistake. Can't exactly blame either pilot for this situation. As a pilot, you are always encouraged to keep your speed up while departing and arriving at a busy airport. We end up putting our trust in our controllers. Simple mistake.

[@HerZzeleid]

After min 3:14 is the thing... =/

[@jorgemartinez18]

Gez! Talk about to close for comfort!

[@chrisgast]

Anything is possible.

[@mceyran]

@Sooksawaspakdee961 Well, if you listen carefully the controller gives BOTH planes a takeoff clearance on the SAME runway. This is mainly the ATC fault, but it is also important that pilots listen not only to their own communication, but also to the instructions for others. The JIA might have been concentrated with the takeoff, so I think the Pilatus should have rejected the takeoff.

[@intrepid_wandering]

And someone landed right after..sigh

[@mariodela]

she failed she was supposed to clear for take off the piper and lined up and wait to the jet. my only question is why pilots are so calm, if that happens to me i would be screaming on that frequency

[@alienxyt]

Nobody is sure at the time who screwed up.

[@jkn1063]

I asked my brother the same thing. He was flying Bluestreak. He said it’s not easy to do but they manage to. I couldn’t…I’d pee myself.

[@stu1002]

What a terrible controller! Her diction is SO bad you can barely hear what she says. Even when she cancels take off clearance she mumbles it! Scary.

[@chrisgast]

Exactly what happened here? I understand 409 almost collided with 390. But where was the miscommunication? All this talking (and fast talking) made it hard for me to understand where it went wrong. Did one of the pilot's miss a turn or did ATC mis-direct the planes' directions? I could pause it and go through it slowly, but I'm lazy. I'd appreciate some help. Thanks.

[@flightcrewshame7378]

Don't forget there's a negative side to flight crews as well. Keep those cameras & audio recorders running folks & Tweet your experiences with the arrogant ones to @flightcrewshame!

[@Cactus732]

@Dietzeeeee it's a combination of both the controller and a pilot, 9DR should not have been given position and hold clnc until JIA390 had passed A but also the pilot should have been paying attention and known that JIA390 was taking off so should have questioned the controller

[@produccionesterrero]

I WONDER WHAT the blue streak passengers reaction was

[@BrianB14471]

Brown streaks.

[@jkn1063]

They needed to change clothes….my brother was the Bluestreak captain

[@jkn1063]

He told me that lol

[@Proberunner]

Pilot must stop befor the runway intersection and contact the tower for futher clearance to cross the runway. Its like driving your car over the intersection without watching left/right

[@KCFlyer2]

Except he was cleared on to the runway for "position and hold".

[@FlyerKBOS]

Agreeing with L33pt. Its not only accent and manerism, she sounds as she has no teeth. Simple truth of life is when controlers are hard to understand or gives instructions with machine gun speed, no one bothers to listen to them beyond what they absolutely have to. It's just too much energy consuming and can give headache.

[@L33tP1ckL]

Really good video. I wish I had the audio/visual incident portrayal tools depicted here. Incidentally, and not to sound like a prick, but they really need to send that female controller to a speech class or two (amongst other things). Regional, unintelligible sounding vocal characteristics and mannerisms and ATC do not go together.

[@crapper1]

wow 10 feet of sep i bet alot of pax on those planes needed new underwear after seeing that i would never want to fly that airline again cause to the passenger they dont know it was the other plane all they know is i was on this airline and i saw another plane pass us on the runway

[@MrWorldbefree]

I think the problem is those dnma ATC people talk to damn fast and are over confident.

[@EduEnYT]

@EduEnYT plus, miss ATC should learn to speak more slowly and clearly

[@FlyerKBOS]

It's really upsetting that in air space where you have foreign planes, which by very nature will never have absolutely perfect English, FAA allows ATCs sounding as Joe farmer WoochieHochie North Dakota - instead of Brian Williams MSNBC. News people study diction and communication skills for like 5 years. I fell ATC should for 10.

[@shesperfect469]

Local control. Lisp. Frustration.

[@MrWorldbefree]

they are professional and you are not

[@EduEnYT]

I don't know how the pilots can understand shit with those crappy radios. All I hear is noise and garbled voices...

[@kewkabe]

Never trust a female controller!