Trans States Airlines and its insurance company have filed separate lawsuits alleging Transport Canada, the airport and Nav Canada were negligent in a June 2010 runway overrun and a September 2011 incident where a plane skidded off the side of a runway.
In the lawsuits, the airline alleges the runways didn’t meet Canadian and international standards because they failed to provide good friction when wet. They also allege that their pilots received inadequate warnings about the weather conditions and state of the runways.
Both lawsuits were filed before the Transportation Safety Board released findings that suggested pilot error and weather were a factor in both incidents.
None of the allegations has been proven in court.
The Attorney General of Canada, Ottawa International Airport Authority and Nav Canada all deny the allegations by Trans States Airlines, instead alleging in court documents that the pilots and airline were to blame and that the airport met the recommended standards.
According to the Trans States lawsuit, the Embraer 145 jet en route from Washington, D.C., on June 16, 2010, needed slightly more than $5.4 million in repairs after its landing gear collapsed when it left the end of runway 07/25.
The exact amount of damage to the Embraer 145 jet in the September 2011 incident wasn’t specified, although that plane’s landing gear collapsed and it suffered damage to a wing causing a fuel leak after leaving runway 14/32. Trans States Airlines and its insurer allege $6.5 million in damages for repairs to the airplane and other costs. It was the third time a Trans States Airlines Embraer 145 had left an Ottawa runway — another jet had overrun a runway in 2004.
The first lawsuit was filed in 2012; the second in 2013. They have been slowly winding their way through the courts, with a judge recently rejecting a bid by the Attorney General to quash portions of the 2012 lawsuit. In that lawsuit, the airline alleges friction tests on a wet runway were below minimum standards and no corrective maintenance was scheduled. The Ottawa International Airport Authority denies the allegation.
In a report released in March, the Transportation Safety Board found that the speed of the jet in the September 2011 incident exceeded the airline’s approach criteria. The flight crew didn’t follow procedure by doing a go-around and increased engine power just prior to landing in the heavy rain. The TSB found that the plane went out of control and left the runway after hydroplaning as a result of the higher landing speed, soft landing on underinflated tires, and use of the emergency/parking brake, which disabled the anti-skid system and prolonged the skid.
The TSB also found speed was a factor in the June 2010 incident. According to the TSB, the pilots calculated an inaccurate target approach speed and the plane crossed the threshold of the runway at an airspeed of 139 knots, or eight knots faster than that calculated for the landing weight of the aircraft.
The TSB also noted that Trans States Airlines didn’t provide its pilots with information or adequate training about landing on ungrooved runways in Canada. Grooved runways help to reduce hydroplaning and remove standing water. There are no requirements that runways be grooved in Canada, although grooved runways are common in the United States.
In the meantime, Ottawa’s airport has undergone major upgrades. Runway 07/25 has since been grooved, and runway 14/32 will be grooved next year once new asphalt applied this summer has properly cured. Ottawa is the only major airport in the country to have grooved runways.
Drainage on the runways has also been improved, and both runways now have Runway End Safety Areas that meet the standards set out by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United States Federal Aviation Administration runway safety.
Those upgrades were planned long in advance of the June 2010 incident, airport spokeswoman Krista Kealey said.
Story, Comments and Photo: http://ottawacitizen.com
This United Express Embraer 145 slid off the side of runway 14/32 in the September 2011. Its landing gear collapsed and it suffered damage to a wing causing a fuel leak.
Mike Carroccetto / Ottawa Citizen
No comments:
Post a Comment