24

I came across a fake video of an A380 closely avoiding a fuel truck. More details at Snopes including a link to the YouTube video.

While this video is not real, I'm interested in finding out if it's a realistic situation and if there are any real instances where accidents have been avoided because crew decided to abort takeoff or landing as a result of an unexpected runway intrusion as seen in the video.

Notts90
  • 3,559
  • 6
  • 31
  • 55
user871199
  • 1,817
  • 2
  • 15
  • 21
  • 27
    Not a vehicle, but I've aborted landings because of deer or cows on the runway. – jamesqf Oct 22 '19 at 02:40
  • Do you mean intentional intrusions to cause a crash with an airplane or just any kind of intrusion? – stackzebra Oct 22 '19 at 13:01
  • 4
    What surprises me is that anyone thought that video was real. I mean, GTA V's graphics are decent for a video game at the time, but they're not that good. My first thought seeing the video was "low quality CGI reenactment", no way that looks like actual video footage. How would such footage even exist? If there was a terrorist attack of that sort, I doubt there'd be someone perfectly following it with a camera to get those angles... – Darrel Hoffman Oct 22 '19 at 18:29
  • 3
    @DarrelHoffman, Social media and common sense does not always go together. People believe anything coming in either shared or forwarded. – user871199 Oct 22 '19 at 19:37
  • 3
    Too far off what was asked to be an answer, but in 2017 an Air Canada flight almost tried to land on a taxiway with four full planes waiting for takeoff, missing one of them by less than 5 metres https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_759 – llama Oct 22 '19 at 21:00
  • 1
    I mean, to the extent that an airplane counts as a 'vehicle,' this is a relatively common occurrence. – reirab Oct 22 '19 at 21:57
  • 2
    @llama Even less far off, an Air Canada Jazz plane did land on a runway with 2 snow removal trucks on it, also in 2017. – reirab Oct 22 '19 at 22:31
  • 1
    @jamesqf In the late 80's, early 90's I used to do a lot of bush-piloting in single-seaters to remote small air-strips in Northern Scandinavia. My personal list: 3x sheep, 2x cow, 4x reindeer, 1x a herd of ponies, 2x moose, 1x guy mowing the grass of the runway and once in Finland I didn't get a good a look at it, but it looked to me like a young bear or maybe a wolverine. – Tonny Oct 23 '19 at 11:08
  • 1
    @Tonny: You've got me beat, especially if the reindeer were pulling a sleigh :-) – jamesqf Oct 24 '19 at 03:18
  • @jamesqf Does getting a reindeer sleigh-ride from the airstrip to a nearby hotel count? – Tonny Oct 24 '19 at 09:45
  • Wait, those incursions happened this century? Aviation needs to start using super-new railroad tech to positively interlock moves like that... (there's a bed of horizontal rods that interock/prevent improper movement) "Is he not clear, that Pan American?" "No, runway lights are still blue". tink as the runway occupancy detector releases an interlock "Clear of runway, Clipper 1736" Cha-thomp clank thomp "Ah, runway lights are green" "KLM clear for takeoff". – Harper - Reinstate Monica Oct 24 '19 at 21:42
  • There is a famous case of someone intentionally parking a van on a runway to prevent an aircraft from landing. A piper cub crashed into it. A lawsuit against piper ensued, saying that the airplane design was defective, due to inaquate visibility. Not quite within the scope of your question though – quiet flyer Oct 25 '19 at 19:33

8 Answers8

48

Not only is it possible but it happens. This is formally called a "runway incursion" and it does happen like 2005 Logan Airport runway incursion or the B733 / vehicle, Amsterdam Netherlands, 2010. Skybrary has a full list you can find here which is quite lengthy and includes a full section for Vehicle Incursion.

Dave
  • 101,073
  • 5
  • 220
  • 364
23

In 1978 a B737 aborted a landing due to a snow plow on the runway. The aircraft crashed during the go around because one thrust reverser did not stow properly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Western_Airlines_Flight_314

Vikki
  • 28,337
  • 16
  • 122
  • 282
Mike Sowsun
  • 37,747
  • 4
  • 122
  • 156
5

Yes. I was on final once when a taildragger in front of suddenly turned around to backtaxi and turn off on the taxiway he had just passed, thinking to do me a favor and get off the runway quicker. Unfortunately, I had been catching up to him on final anyway, so I just powered up and went around.

CrossRoads
  • 8,795
  • 1
  • 19
  • 32
  • 3
    Why to call that pure taildragger so shamefully, "a vehicle" ... – h22 Oct 21 '19 at 22:24
  • 4
    Motor vehicle with a wing, same as mine. Just happens to be 10-20 years older! And mine is 46 years old. – CrossRoads Oct 21 '19 at 22:54
  • 5
    I aborted a landing at Lake Tahoe once because there was a snow plow on the runway. I guess the guy didn't have a radio or wasn't paying attention to it. – David Schwartz Oct 22 '19 at 06:24
3

If you don't quite abort...

Plane Collides with SUV While Landing at (Texas) Northwest Regional Airport (52F)

Streak
  • 361
  • 1
  • 3
2

I can remember one evening quite some years ago when there was a sudden extremely loud noise. Not quite an explosion -- much too protracted and no shock, but you get the general idea. Since there was no flying debris, no visible columns of smoke, no sign of anything else out of the ordinary, I ignored it apart from paying more attention to the news that evening.

The news reported that Concorde had aborted a landing at Heathrow because somebody had strayed onto its runway. This required afterburners! The emergency services lines closer to Heathrow were jammed for quite some time, with people trying to report the "explosion".

nigel222
  • 199
  • 5
2

I personally witnessed one at EWR (Newark International). The runways in EWR run parallel to New Jersey Turnpike, only meters away. I was driving on NJ Turnpike northbound when a flight (looked like a B737, but I'm not sure) touched down parallel to the I-95 just at my level and moments later powered up and went around. A few more moments later I noticed another, much smaller, plane further along the same runway. This was in 1998 or 1999.

Aleks G
  • 455
  • 4
  • 12
2

I am but a meager low time private pilot, but I'm sure this happens all the time as it has happened to me. Before I got my certificate, I departed my home (towered) airport solo planning to buzz over to a nearby very small uncontrolled airport and practice some landings. When I arrived, the city mower was working around the runway, apparently not listening to CTAF. I aborted the first landing as he crossed the runway just in front of me.

Fortunately, he was just finishing the area around the runway and I was able to continue practicing without any further issue.

From a safety standpoint, it was never a big deal. I saw the mower, was aware of his location, and watched to see if he would depart the area before I got close to the ground. He didn't, so I performed a go around. I was surprised that he seemed not to notice me, but it was more inconvenient than unsafe.

izzy
  • 153
  • 1
  • 8
1

On my first flight I flew into LAX and we were coming into land and suddenly went up again. Looking out of the window and there was another plane on the runway. The captain confirmed over the intercom that was the reason for the aborted landing. I would guess this was in 1977.

Bonzo
  • 111
  • 3