TORONTO — A distracted maintenance worker who drove onto an active runway required an Air Canada plane to scrap an initial landing attempt to avoid a collision at Toronto's Pearson airport last year, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Wednesday.
A new report from the board said the driver of the maintenance vehicle was distracted by "the planning of the upcoming tasks that he would be supervising" at the time of the incident, which took place shortly after midnight on Oct. 15, 2022.
As a result, the driver was paying less attention to hazards on his route and drove onto the runway even though he had received – and read back – instructions not to do so, the TSB said.
According to the report, the air traffic controller saw what happened and told the plane to stop its approach and go back around before trying again. The plane was able to land "uneventfully" on its second try, the report said.
The board said the incident shows "how a lapse in attention by even an experienced airport maintenance vehicle driver can result in a runway incursion."
The Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which operates the airport, said safety is its top priority and it takes all incidents "very seriously."
"Runway incursions are extremely rare at Toronto Pearson, and we work hard to make sure everyone stays safe on our airfield," spokesperson Sean Davidson said in an email.
"We are committed to learning from situations like this and will review the report in detail and continue to work with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 20, 2023.
The Canadian Press
