More Crappy Aviation Reporting at the Trib

The Chicago Tribune is quickly becoming my least-favourite newspaper for its horribly biased reporting on all things aviation. It’s almost as though Mayor Daley himself is directing the editorial board to slant things as much as possible. The latest? The totally unnecessary paragraph at the end of today’s story about an American Airlines 757 departing runway 22R on landing Monday afternoon:

The emergency landing comes the same day that the National Transportation Safety Board said it’s investigating an incident last week in Allentown, Pa., involving a small private aircraft and a passenger jet bound for Chicago.

In that incident, a single-engine small private plane landing at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown missed a runway exit and narrowly missed colliding with a Mesa Airlines commuter flight taking off on the same runway, according to an NTSB statement.

Yes, that would be the incident last Friday night at Allentown, PA (PDF Airport Diagram) in which a Mesa Airlines CRJ began its takeoff roll without ensuring the runway was clear, after a controller issued a takeoff clearance without himself ensuring the runway was clear (instead assuming the Cessna 172 Skyhawk would make the turnoff). The jet crew rejected the takeoff at approximately 120 knots, had to swerve around the Cessna, and estimated the closest distance between their aircraft at 10 feet.

A Skyhawk even at max gross weight can easily be stopped in under 2000 feet, but it requires good short-field landing technique and advance planning on the part of the pilot. Stopping a Skyhawk in under 1000 feet, the approximate distance between the runway threshold and taxiway A4, where he was instructed to exit, is damn near impossible if you’re not planning to do so ahead of time. It’s a virtual certainty that both jet pilots have enough time in single-engine airplanes (possibly even Skyhawks) to know this, and even if they hadn’t given it any thought, seeing an airplane less than 2000 feet away with navigation lights and a red beacon illuminated on a clear night is not at all difficult.

Despite the failure of the jet crew to clear the runway for takeoff, and despite the controller’s failure to ensure the Skyhawk was at least beginning his turnoff before issuing a takeoff clearance, the Tribune reporters manage to pin the blame on the Skyhawk’s pilot. He didn’t “narrowly miss” anything; he was “narrowly missed” by the Mesa jet.

This was in no way the fault of the Skyhawk pilot. The Mesa crew should be ashamed of themselves for putting the lives of their passengers in jeopardy due to their blind trust in the controller. That’s four eyes in the cockpit of the jet that all failed to adhere to one basic safety premise: clear the area where you’re going.

posted by Chris on 22 September 2008 at 1938 in aviation

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