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Logan construction suspended after runway close call

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 18, 2009 04:57 PM

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Massport has suspended all airfield construction at Logan International Airport after a construction vehicle drove onto a runway this morning as a jet was taking off, officials said.

US Airways Flight 27, an Airbus 320, was taking off for Phoenix at around 6:36 a.m. when a construction vehicle crossed Runway 15R.

Edited audio of the moments before Flight 27 took off (LiveATC.net)

"It was a serious thing, a matter of seconds," said spokesman Phil Orlandella.

Massport, saying that safety and security were top priorities, announced this afternoon that it would suspend the construction.

"Until we know the factors that contributed to this event -- whether it was the failure of an individual or there was a failure in the system -- and implemented measures to minimize further the potential for such events, construction on the airfield will be suspended," the authority said in a statement.

The authority said that the driver of the vehicle "appears to have violated airfield procedures."

FAA spokesman Jim Peters said the truck was driving on Taxiway M in the center of the field, which is under construction.

A controller was aware that the truck was driving on the taxiway toward Runway 15R, but the standard procedure is for the driver to stop at the runway and radio the tower to ask permission to cross, Peters said. The driver did not do that, he said. An alarm then went off in the tower indicating that something was on the runway that shouldn't be there.

"The truck just clears the runway as US Airways 27 goes through the intersection," Peters said. He said people in the tower "saw the truck cross … and the aircraft pass behind it."

"This is a serious incident that we're going to be investigating," he said.

Peters said part of the investigation would be exactly what the distance was between the plane and the truck at takeoff.

The flight continued safely to Phoenix, he said. The truck driver, who worked for HNTB Inc., has been barred from driving anywhere on the airport. HNTB said in a statement that the employee had been suspended pending an internal investigation and the company was "cooperating fully with the official investigation."

Morgan Durrant, a US Airways spokesman, said the plan was carrying 84 passengers and a crew of five. It arrived in Phoenix around 9 a.m. local time. "It’s inappropriate for us to comment further as the FAA is investigating," he said in a statement.

The FAA will seek to interview the captain and first officer and also interview the truck driver and the controllers, as well as download data from ground radar, and review the air traffic control radio tapes, Peters said.

"We'll review the procedures, the training – everything will be looked at," he said.

It was the 16th runway incursion at the airport since the beginning of 2008, Peters said.