The simultaneous landing and take-off of aircraft on runways that intersect in line with each other creates undesirable safety risks at Schiphol. Air traffic control procedures allow an aircraft to take off before an aircraft has landed on another runway with an intersecting course. This allows more aircraft to use the runways per hour. But because the two routes intersect in the air, there is a risk that the aircraft will come too close to each other. The Dutch Safety Board recently reported this in the publication “Reduced separation at restart”.
The Dutch Safety Board investigated an incident that took place in 2018 involving two passenger aircraft. A landing aircraft made a go-around on the Zwanenburgbaan, while an aircraft taking off on the Kaagbaan had already taken off and could no longer be stopped. Aircraft taking off and landing have an intersecting course on these runways. The planes flew towards each other as a result. Intervention by air traffic control and flight crews prevented a possible collision between the two aircraft.
Dangerous situation
The conclusions of the recently published investigation report are in line with the publication “Safety air traffic Schiphol” (2017). In it, the Dutch Safety Board states that the design of the airport and the system for handling air traffic are so complex that the limits of the amount of air traffic that can be safely handled at Schiphol come into view. 'This has to be structurally different,' says Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chair of the Dutch Safety Board, 'The safety risk seems small in this case, but the impact of a collision between two aircraft is so great that you shouldn't want to take on this risk' .
The rule is that an aircraft may only take off after an aircraft with an intersecting course has actually landed on another runway. However, the current procedure of Air Traffic Control the Netherlands allows deviations from this under certain circumstances. This makes it possible to start an aircraft before the other aircraft has landed. This goes well in almost all cases. But when a landing aircraft makes a go-around at the last minute and this is not noticed or is noticed too late by air traffic control, a dangerous situation arises.
Recommendation
Similar situations occurred in 2007 and 2015. In response to this, Air Traffic Control the Netherlands has adapted the standard procedure on behalf of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate. However, the possibility of deviating from this remained. The Dutch Safety Board therefore recommends Air Traffic Control and the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management to no longer allow the exception to the rule. And thus adhering to the rule of not allowing aircraft to take off until the landing aircraft has landed on the other runway, with a possibly crossing course.
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