Porto airport tower allowed a Ryanair aircraft to land on the runway from which the SATA aircraft was supposed to take off

The Porto airport control tower authorized the Ryanair plane to land while the SATA A321neo was still on the runway, ready to take off, aviation sources told Lusa.

In a reply sent today to Lusa, NAV said it was “immediately aware of the incident that took place last Monday.” [26 de junho]”through the accident reporting system, adding that she informed the Air and Rail Accident Prevention and Investigation Authority (GPIAAF) and the National Aviation Administration (ANAC).

Aviation sources explained to Luza that it was “a serious incident that had no other consequences only because the pilot” of a Ryanair 737 flying from Barcelona alerted the controller to the presence of another aircraft, an A321neo, on the runway. from the airline SATA, which was waiting for permission to fly towards Porto Santo, interrupting the landing.

“NAV Portugal has launched an internal investigation into this incident and is currently collecting the necessary elements to prepare its report,” adds the company in charge of air traffic control.

In a final investigation report published in December 2022, the GPIAAF concluded that Porto and Ponta Delgada airports had experienced major air traffic control failures that allowed takeoffs and landings while vehicles were still performing inspection or maintenance runway.

In the case of Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto, the incident took place on the night of April 27, 2021, when a Boeing 737-400 cargo operated by ASL Airlines Belgium began to take off when the “follow me” car “duly authorized to conduct a runway inspection” runway, noticed a bright light and interrogated the controller about the presence of aircraft lined up on the runway.

The GPIAAF submitted five safety recommendations to NAV, “covering aspects of implementing robust runway incursion detection systems that are independent of human actions, revisiting effective controller oversight policies and associated operator prerogatives, revising their safety management components. system and implementation of the sterile control room concept”.

Following the release of the GPIAAF report, NAV said it had adopted a “set of internal measures” to “as much as possible reduce the risk of repeating the errors that caused” the incidents that occurred at the two national airports.

Lusa asked NAV how it felt about this incident and if it was expected to happen after the announcement of the implementation of several measures, but the national airspace controller denied the similarities and comparisons between the Monday incident and the April 27, 2021 incident.

“The measures taken are the result of a different type of incident that should not be carried over to this particular case. Incidents are vastly different, and measures taken in the past have helped reinforce the safety of the operation for this type of situation without being at risk. judging by what happened last Monday,” says NAV.

ANAC has the same understanding, which in the reply sent to Luce, says that technically the incident on Monday “is not a repetition of circumstances, but a different type of incident” compared to what happened on April 27, 2021, so they were classified in different categories .

However, the industry regulator acknowledges that “there may eventually be common origins.” [aos dois incidentes]which, of course, will be investigated.

Also in a response sent to Luce, the GPIAAF states that NAV Portugal notified him of the incident on Monday, adding that “immediately, he began collecting information to support the ongoing process of assessing the circumstances of the incident. “.

With regard to the question of the measures taken by NAV Portugal and ANAC after the April 27, 2021 incident, this body refers to the fact that “both organizations have developed an implementation plan by December 31, 2023”.

In this regard, ANAC says it is “overseeing” the implementation of various measures by the NAV.