Air Canada | Aircraft's computer warned of potential collision

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By SHAWN BERRY
berry.shawn@dailygleaner.com

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Flight college and Air Canada Jazz officials are in talks to avoid a repeat of a recent incident that forced the crew of an arriving passenger jet to take action to avoid a collision.

The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on June 2 as an Air Canada Jazz CRJ-200 was approaching Runway 27 at the Fredericton International Airport.

An on-board computer that warns of potential collisions ordered the crew to descend. It subsequently issued another order to climb, said a report published online in the Aviation Herald.

The 50-seat plane landed without further warnings.

The crew reported the incident to the Transportation Safety Board.

Officials with Air Canada Jazz have contacted the Moncton Flight College, which operates a flight school with 180 Chinese students, to discuss the issue.

Mike Doiron, CEO and principal of the Moncton Flight College, said the school was recently contacted by Air Canada Jazz about the incident.

"Our safety guys are in ongoing discussion with Jazz," he said, noting that until being contacted by the passenger airline, the college was unaware there had been an issue.

"We're going to see if there is a better way to co-ordinate traffic."

No one from the Transportation Safety Board was available for comment Friday. A spokeswoman for Air Canada Jazz said she couldn't immediately comment on the matter.

Doiron said the fact that none of the college's pilots reported any incident that day leads him to believe the incident didn't involve aircraft in close proximity.

"Our pilots didn't report it, so they didn't consider it close," he said.

He said the college's aircraft aren't outfitted with a Traffic and Collision Avoidance System, such as the systems on commercial passenger aircraft.

Doiron said a number of the college's planes were in the air at the time as students trained. He said they were using the airport's other strip, Runway 33.

He said Fredericton is becoming a busier airport.

In fact, the Fredericton International Airport continues to be the busiest in its class.

NAV Canada is studying its aircraft traffic to determine whether Fredericton needs an air traffic control tower. The airport currently has a flight service station.

Air traffic control towers are required at airports with higher levels of traffic in terms of number and complexity, such as scheduled passenger flights. Controllers direct pilots during takeoff and landing.

Flight service stations are intended to meet the needs of airports with lower traffic complexity and fewer movements. Flight service specialists provide advisory services to pilots, including runway and weather conditions, and traffic advisories. It's up to the pilot to decide when it's best to take off or land.

The Fredericton International Airport was the busiest of NAV Canada's 52 flight service stations across the country in May, logging a total of 10,790 takeoffs and landings. That's twice as high as the next busiest flight service station in North Bay, Ont., which logged 5,084 takeoffs and landings.

Aircraft movements at the airport in May were more than four times higher than they were during the same period in 2007. The bulk of the traffic increase at the airport is from the college, which has grown from 21 students two years ago to 180.

In terms of traffic, Fredericton was also busier than 24 of the 41 airports across Canada that have a full-service NAV Canada tower.