Transcript
JOSEPH NGAMATA: Jetstar took the normal time, maybe four or give minutes taxi, well we don't have a taxi, we just get out on the runway and go to the end of it and turn around and take off. When the Air New Zealand flight that was coming in on approach, Jetstar asked for about 30 seconds time for it to get ready and obviously that was not enough time so the Air New Zealand flight had to go around.
DANIELA MAOATE-COX: Was anyone in danger at all during this?
JN: N because the rule is you cannot clear an aircraft for landing unless the runway is clear of any obstacles or aircraft which means there's no way it would have been cleared to land until this aircraft had taken off and crossed the end of the runway.
DM-C: No risk of them actually colliding at all?
JN: No no no, it's not an efficient controlling in that it resulted in the delay of Air New Zealand but there was no safety risks.
DM-C: An investigation has now been completed into what happened, is anything going to change?
JC: Yeah most certainly for the controller on the day, he'll be taken through our simulator to simulate similar conditions so he is well versed in preplanning on things like this, in hindsight I wouldn't have put it out on the runway knowing that the other aircraft is going to be close in on the approach.
DM-: Could anything else be done in scheduling landing and take-off of aircraft to put more time between them?
JN: Oh yes certainly, for controllers you can do a couple of things. He knew what time the aircraft was arriving and when Jetstar called out for a clearance he could have told that aircraft then, expect clearance at a certain time so that when it's ready to taxi the other aircraft has landed, or he could have taxied it onto the runway and told the Air New Zealand flight to hold out at ten miles, and just hold it out there till the aircraft it out of the way. As I said there's no safety concern here but it's not very efficient controlling. He had done the same thing a week before on the same aircraft and it didn't have the conflict so I think to try it again this time was a little bit pushing it I think, he ended up with it [being] slightly later than what would have normally happened and Air New Zealand caught up with it.
DM-C: So there was a similar landing and take off time last week and it went smoothly.
JN: It went smoothly, he had it in time for take off and for the other guy to land. It's not a safety issue it's an efficiency issue and we would like to improve that and it's certainly been the focus of this investigation to make sure it doesn't happen again and that our people are more efficient in delivering our services to aircraft.
