Alliance Airlines & Jetstar within 30 seconds of collision at Adelaide airport due to misheard instruction

Evasive action by a Jetstar crew averted an aviation disaster at the Adelaide Airport in August. According to the Australian Safety Transport Bureau, misheard instruction almost caused the collision of an Alliance Airlines aircraft with a Jetstar plane.

Miscommunications between the Alliance aviators and surface movement controller of the airport resulted in the Alliance flight landing on the gateway’s tarmac and into the path of an incoming Jetstar A320. To avoid hitting the Alliance Fokker 50 jet, the pilot of Jetstar Flight A320 – only 30 seconds away from a disaster – took evasive action.

The quick-thinking pilot of Jetstar likely saved the lives of the 53 people aboard the Alliance flight and the 150 passengers of the Qantas low-budget air carrier.

News.com.au explains the near-fatal accident to the first three words of the air traffic control missing at the beginning of the transmission. The instruction too Alliance was “Hold short of runway 23, I’ve got you going to 50 golf.” However, the pilots of Alliance only heard, “Runway 23, I’ve got you going to 50 golf.”

The bureau, in its investigation, notes that air traffic controllers have become desensitised to words being clipped from their transmission. Since the instructions from the air traffic controllers include the parking bay, it was understood by the check captain of Alliance that the Fokker would cross runway 23.

The check captain replied, “cross runway 23 to 50 golf, Unity 3201.” But the air controllers also misheard the read back of the check captain and thought the vital word “hold” was just clipped, ABC reports.

Given the confusion, flight crews of both planes thought they were given clearance to taxi their aircraft across the runway. On seeing the possible collision on the screen, the air traffic controller initially called “hold short,” but when he realised it was the wrong term, he said, “Unity expedite expedite.”

Since the Jetstar crew saw the smaller plane crossing its runway, the pilot went into a go around – an evasive action – discontinuing the landing. The pilot instead climbs away from the runway to make another attempt at landing.

Because of that action, the ATSB commended the Jetstar pilots. Georgina Sutton, chief pilot captain of Jetstar, attributes the swift action of the A320 pilot to the company’s aviators undergoing regular training and assessment in a simulator to prepare them for similar, but rare, scenarios.