St. Maarten Private Eye

Good job! Hopefully someone out there has the answers to those questions. This piece was in the Today last week about it.

Near plane collision on the internet - 7th June 2007

Flipper

I have read the article for the Today, I did notice it said passengers told a reporter from the Daily Herald about the incident when they landed. I don't recall reading anything in the paper about this before today. Has anyone else read anything? Also how did the reporter from the Today know about the passengers talking to a reporter from the DH? Why didn't the Today report this sooner?

If both jets were aware of each other then why did the incoming jet wait so long to alter his course? I don't think he was trying to put on a show for the people on the beach.

The person in the tower should have a lot of questions to answer. Wonder if and when those questions will be ask?

Perhaps not a close call by SXM thinking, but if this had happened in Europe or the US I bet it wouldn't be brushed off as you do so. No investigation or reassurance needed? I disagree with you and I think there are many more who would too. I would also like to know what communication was going on with the tower at this time, if any.

Flipper

1000’s of aircraft go around on approach all over the world every year most of them because the runway is not cleared yet. It is not a big thing. We could write pages and pages about this but it will be difficult to convince you as the obvious laymen. I have 30 years of experience flying commercial aircraft and what I see on the video is not an emergency. Here is a podcast of a BA Captain explaining what a go around is.

Let me add a little thing about decision height:

"…decision height is the limit to which a pilot may descend before deciding to continue his approach to a landing by means of visual aids and cues, or to execute a missed approach…This is not to say that the pilot waits until he arrives at the decision height before deciding to land or to go-around. The decision making process begins at the time the approach is initiated and continues while the approach is in progress… It therefore becomes evident that while the decision height is an exact point in space at which the pilot makes an operational decision, the information he requires to make this decision has been accumulating for a considerable time, and it would be incorrect to assume that all aspects, of this decision must be formulated and assessed at one critical instant on the approach"..

Go arounds are performed before or at decision height. It is a standard safety procedure at a pre calculated point performed at safe altitudes and distances. That is why we have pilots in the cockpit. This was a normal go around because the runway was not cleared on time (taxiing of the Corsair took longer than expected) and the KL was either instructed to go around or made their own call on time. In either case it is not something to be upset about.

What I would like to be reassured of is that the Corsair and Tower were aware of the situation and the incoming knew there was a plane on the runway previous to pulling out of the landing.
Turn arounds do happen of course, but this one was just a little too close I think. Knowing how things get hidden and covered up on this island so often, (we are still waiting for several reports, ie the bashing attack and the guy that died at the hospital after bleeding to death waiting for treatment.) I would like to be reassured that this was a normal turnaround and not an 'Oh shit there's a plane on the runway kind of turn around".

Flipper

Granted, these things happen, but the planes and towers are well aware of them and the situation is known and under control. But this is SXM afterall, it would be nice to know that the Tower and both planes in this case were also aware of it.

Hady

Rest Assured. Aircraft report to the tower of the destination airport way before they start their descend for landing. The tower gives weather updates, directions for speed and altitude and sequence for landing. Pilots of departing aircraft listen to the same frequency and hear conversations between Tower and aircraft on approach. They are aware. We can rule out that commercial carriers like KLM do not report to the tower. The tower therefore knows what traffic is approaching. The tower also has radar and their screens show direction, airspeed and altitude of planes in the area. Commercial aircraft have TCAS which is a traffic collision avoidance system independent of air traffic control. It warns pilots of the presence of other aircraft flying which may present a threat. Finally, pilots have eyes. They must see a clear runway at decision height or else they abort landing and go around. You can rest assured that things were under control from all ends.

People,
Whether or not an investigation is called or whether or not the planes ALMOST collided is not the issue. We should all be grateful that no disaster occurred and that everyone is safe. I travelled on that very day from the U.S.to St. Maarten and heard absolutely nothing about this incident. And as someone has mentioned, these things do happen throughout the world which is true. I spent an hour circling once because of visibility issues in North Carolina, just like many other aircraft in the air on that day. We were all half a mile or so away from one another, which is probably the same distance these two planes had between one another.
Stop bickering over this issue..it could have been worse, but it's not.

Grateful nothing bad happened? OK, sure. Still deserves an investigation though.

Carib

There was an investigation and nothing was out of the ordinary, the seperation of the aircraft was normal based on aviation standards.

If you would know how much this happens in major airports maybe you wouldnt want to fly to those anymore. Say JFK, Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris CDG, London Heathrow just to name a few.

The last I was aware of ,there was supposed to be a 3 minute separation per FAA rules, that is based upon aircraft speed to time of touchdown.
It appeared from the video that there was far less time the separation.
I also think that the 3 minute separation starts once the departing aircraft has lifted off.

As a student pilot, aviation enthusiast and long time SXM vacationer, I would like to offer my perspective. I have also consulted with a friend of mine who is a widebody A340 & 744 captain who saw the video and concurs with the following opinion.

The video in question involves a standard missed approach or go-around procedure. This can be for any number of reasons and is perfectly reasonable and expected if there is an unsafe condition that would prevent a safe landing and such a condition was noticed prior to the decision height. The SXM decision height is 500 feet to my knowledge. Without the ATC tapes, we can only speculate as to what was said, but from the video it is reasonable to assume that:

1) prior to decision height, the KLM crew elected to go-around and conduct a missed approach. Reason: runway was not clear of aircraft.
2) The decision to go-around was correct. The reason why the decision height exists, among others, is to provide a fixed point where the flight crew says "yes or no" to a landing.
3) With regard to ATC, there could be several reasons why the Corsair 747 was given clearance to line up and take off, most likely due to congestion at SXM. While 2 747s at the same time is rare (KLM and Corsair are the only 747 operators on the island) there are dozens and dozens of smaller aircraft that operate at SXM every day. The Corsair flight may have been waiting for some time and the ATC elected to have them departure priority, even if it meant having the KLM to go-around. This is likely due to the fact that Corsair conducted a rolling takeoff, meaning that ATC would have likely stated "no delay, cleared for takeoff, keep it rolling" or something to that effect

4) Finally, it is important to note that what looks like a major event on the video is in fact another day at the office for the crew. In that situation, it was simply an issue of them carrying out procedure and that ATC did not do anything improper. Remember, if there had been no one on the runway and KLM had something as little as a bad feeling about the approach they could have gone around without any other reason than their own professional judgement.

5) SXM is the best piece of paradise in the world and I look forward to the next time I am there.