Airbus Industrie A319-132 N810AW incident near Anchorage, Alaska

Probable cause

The approach controller's delayed transfer of communications on the A319 to the tower controller and failure to account for the aircraft's speed when he directed the crew to turn north. Contributing to the incident was the 747 crew's transfer of radio communications to departure control prior to being directed to do so by the tower controller.

NTSB analysis

The airport was configured to use runways 14 and runway 25R, which intersect. An Airbus A319 had been cleared for a visual approach to land on runway 14 but executed a missed approach. During the missed approach procedure and follow-on instructions by air traffic control, the flight paths of the A319 and a Boeing 747, departing from runway 25R, converged. The crew of the A319 received a traffic collision avoidance system resolution advisory during the incident. According to radar data, the A319 and the 747 came with 100 feet vertically and .33 miles laterally.

Postincident investigation determined that the approach controller did not direct a timely transfer of communications on the A319 to the control tower and did not account for the aircraft's speed when he directed the A319 to turn north. The above average approach speed of the A319 resulted in the airplane overflying runway 25R instead of turning inside the runway. Additionally, the crew of the 747 transferred radio communications to departure control prior to being directed to do so by the control tower, resulting in the 747 not receiving time-critical traffic and control information from the tower controller.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for OPS10IA196 for the full record.