They got clearance, which was overruled by a STOOOP!

The guy was alone operating 2 frequencies, had an emergency of another aircraft going on… is not so easy as many commenters from the armchair are insinuating

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_moof 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They got clearance and then obviously didn't bother to look outside, which is a dereliction of the basic responsibility of operating any vehicle on an airport surface. Clear left, clear right, then cross the hold short line.

(See my other comment below if you're tempted to say something about visibility.)

	▲	f1shy an hour ago \| parent [-]
		They could not see, because delta crosses in diagonal to the runway, such that the plane comes from behind (and the right side) so the driver has no chance to see. The truck was moving fast which is ok, because you want to clear the runway as fast as possible.

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ApolloFortyNine 32 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>The guy was alone operating 2 frequencies, had an emergency of another aircraft going on… is not so easy as many commenters from the armchair are insinuating

I'm not saying its easy, I'm actually specifically saying it's such a hard job we should have automated most of it away ages ago. If the only thing stopping an accident like this is an ATC employee, this _will_ happen in the future.

They came up with rail signals long before the idea of a computer even existed. It's hard to believe voice only communication of routes and runway access is the best path forward. Especially when passenger airliners are involved.

	▲	bronco21016 4 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Automation emboldens policy makers to reduce human count because of the perceived increase in safety. This results in less eyes and brains monitoring for situations of automation failure or abnormalities. The corner stone of aviation safety over the last several decades has been having multiple, highly trained and experienced operators on station monitoring aviation systems to catch those moments when something goes wrong. Additionally, a culture where those operators are encouraged to speak up and be heard when something goes wrong without fear of being reprimanded is essential. Automation is fantastic. We use it extensively in aviation. However, the long tail of 9s in reliable requires constant vigilance and oversight because anything that can go wrong will.
	▲	hypeatei 14 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Who's entering the signal that the runway is locked? What if they screw up? There are so many failure modes with vehicles and planes using the same tarmac that I fail to see how anything would be worth developing here that doesn't eliminate that requirement altogether.

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bombcar 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

From where I'm sitting, it's not really "the fault" of ATC (even though it is) simply because I'm not trusting enough of ATC even when they're on "my side".

When cleared across a runway I'm still going to be looking in all directions, and proceed as fast as I can. I also look both ways at railway crossings even if the guards are up and silent.

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__turbobrew__ 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I wonder if visibility was good enough that looking both ways before crossing the runway would have prevented this.

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bombcar 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That'll be one of the things the NTSB investigates.

I also wonder if you're down to a "one controller" scenario if it would be better for there to be once frequency, not a ground/air split.

	▲	alistairSH an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Or perhaps a "one controller" scenario is just terrible policy.

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f1shy an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

No. it wasn't. Delta crosses 04 in diagonal, so basically they should have taken the head out of the window and look behind. They had the clearance, so they just tried to cross. The problem is for some reason they did not hear the "Truck 1 stop" call.