|
New London, Wisconsin | There was a lot going on. As with most accidents, there are related issues or distractions. In this case a United flight had an issue with smoke in the cabin, and didn't know if they had a fire or brake issue, as they had just landed. They wanted the passengers off promptly but no gate was available. The air traffic controller was trying to line up an air stair for outside passenger unloading when the fire truck requested a clearance to cross the runway to go to the United flight. This at the time Jazz 646( the Canadian RJ900) was on final to land. The fire truck didn't roll across immediately after radio request as they were not quite to that intersection yet. Yes they have ground and fire frequencies but in this case they were all on tower frequency. There was another person according to NTSB in the tower, but they may have been handling approach or ground frequencies, a common system.
I have heard all the tapes, and I will only say it had a tragic outcome. The controller did repeat the request by fire engine 1 to cross runway 4 at D, by repeating the request. The proper and usual phase is "CLEARED" to cross. That was not stated, but could have been implied. It was a case where a lot was happening all at once, and the inbound CRJ900 was far from the only thing he needed to watch. But watch he did as the jet was still at between 93 and 105 mph the fire engine #1 rolled out in front of it, turning left a bit in the process.
If...
The United jet didn't have smoke in the cabin,...
The gate had been available,...
The RJ900 was 10 seconds later...
The engine was 10 seconds faster...
The controller had not simply repeated the engines request...
Or the engine Waited to hear "Cleared".
If ONE of those things were different it would not have happened.
It was a case of bad things happening to good people. My heart goes out to all including, and especially, the controller. That poor guy was already suffering on the radio after watching the collision. He was still yelling STOP, STOP,, STOP to the engine. Perhaps they misunderstood.
Jim
Edited by 150pilot 3/23/2026 20:59
| |
|
Air Canada crash
