EMBRAER ERJ190 near Denver, CO — 2010-12-31
- Date
- 2010-12-31
- Location
- Denver, CO, USA
- Airport
- KDEN
- Aircraft
- EMBRAER ERJ190
- Registration
- C-FHKA
- Category
- Airplane
- Fatalities
- 0
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff roll
Probable cause
The driver of the operation vehicle's misidentification of the runway for an adjacent taxiway, resulting in a runway incursion with an aircraft in position for takeoff.
NTSB narrative
A runway incursion occurred when an aviation operations vehicle, operated as the lead vehicle for a snow removal team, entered an active runway without clearance as the airplane was about to begin its takeoff roll. The airplane's crew noticed the headlights of the vehicle approaching on the runway and did not initiate their takeoff roll. The tower controller was not aware of the vehicle on the runway until advised by the airplane's crew. The airport was equipped with ASDE-X, which did not alert of the runway incursion due to the slow closure rate of the vehicle to the stationary aircraft. Postincident investigation revealed that the driver of the operations vehicle misidentified the runway for an adjacent taxiway.
Analysis
- Primary failure mode
- Human factors
- First missed decision gate
- Control tower could have verified runway was clear before issuing takeoff clearance.
NTSB coding
- Runway incursion veh/AC/person · Taxi-into takeoff position
- Decision Making / Judgment
Evidence available
- FDR / data
- 4 docket documents