A Transportation Safety Board (TSB) investigation found that inaccurate transponder information played a role in an incident where two planes nearly collided on a runway at Canada’s busiest airport.
According to the TSB, an Air Canada Embraer 190 jet had just started flying from Toronto Pearson International Airport on March 7, 2020 when it collided with a bird and radioed to say it was dropping its flight and remained on the ground.
However, the investigation revealed that the call was not heard by air traffic control or the crew of an Air Canada Boeing 777 behind the Embraer. Boeing was speeding when it noticed Embraer was still on the runway.
The investigation revealed that, although complying with current standards, the Embraer 190’s transponder was sent to have the plane in the air after speeding more than 50 knots.
Following the incident, NAV CANADA issued an urgent bulletin reminding all Toronto Tower personnel that alerts may not be generated when certain aircraft take off, and reminded controllers to closely monitor such situations.
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
