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Sydney airport near-miss involved controllers flagged as high-fatigue risk, records show

From The Straits Times · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Documents & data Under investigation
  • Five of 10 air traffic controllers on duty during a July near-miss at Sydney Airport had been rated as facing high fatigue risk, Reuters found from internal records.
  • The incident involved a Qantas turboprop that narrowly avoided a Qantas Boeing 737 cleared to cross the runway.
  • Airservices Australia declined comment while the Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigates six Sydney Airport near-misses.

Five of the 10 air traffic controllers working when two Qantas aircraft nearly collided at Sydney Airport in July had been flagged as facing a high risk of fatigue, according to internal records reviewed by Reuters.

The July 27 incident involved a landing Qantas turboprop that narrowly avoided a Qantas Boeing 737 after the jet had been cleared to cross the runway. It became the first of six near-misses at Sydney Airport within about a month, increasing scrutiny of staffing levels amid global air traffic control shortages.

We've got like five high fatigues on this morning. It's a bit insane.

· Shift managerThe manager described staffing conditions in an internal call after the Sydney Airport near-miss.

Two of the three controllers directly involved were rated as highly fatigued, while the third carried a medium-risk rating. In an internal call after the incident, a shift manager told an air traffic management director, "We've got like five high fatigues on this morning. It's a bit insane."

Thankfully, they didn't hit, but it was pretty close and everyone up here is pretty rattled by it.

· Shift managerThe manager described the reaction to the near-collision.

He added, "Thankfully, they didn't hit, but it was pretty close and everyone up here is pretty rattled by it." The fatigue ratings estimate risk using factors including workload and scheduling. They do not measure whether a controller is actually fatigued. Possible measures include longer breaks, traffic limits or ending a shift early.

Airservices Australia, the government agency employing Australia's air traffic controllers, declined to comment because the incident remains under investigation. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is examining all six near-misses for common safety issues or contributing factors. Civil Air President Scott Nugent said rising fatigue-risk ratings reflected less rest and longer working hours, adding that staff shortages had led to more overtime, fewer days off and greater pressure.

However, short staffing leads to people working more overtime, having fewer days off, working under more pressure and fatigue increasing,

· Scott NugentThe Civil Air president linked staffing shortages to greater fatigue among controllers.
About this summary

Originally published by The Straits Times. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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