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DEENA 7 Loss of Separation Incident Report Out.

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TheGreenAnger
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DEENA 7 Loss of Separation Incident Report Out.

#1 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Mar 07, 2023 6:29 pm

A British Airways Boeing 787 and Qantas Airbus A330 suffered a loss of separation while departing Sydney/Kingsford Smith Airport last year, a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has found.

On the afternoon of September 28, 2022, the 787-9 Dreamliner G-ZBKF (c/n 38622), took off from Runway 16R for a scheduled passenger service to Singapore.

Approximately three minutes later, the A330-200 VH-EBK (c/n 945), departed the same runway for a flight to Cairns in Far North Queensland.

Both widebodies were instructed by air traffic control (ATC) to follow the same standard instrument departure (SID), the DEENA 7, for their respective climbs to 28,000ft.

The SID required the aircraft to meet two separate conditions before a turn to the northwest could be commenced: they had to pass the DEENA waypoint, and had to climb to at least 6,000ft.

“Because aircraft have to satisfy two separate conditions prior to turning, there is no way to ensure aircraft will turn at the same location when conducting the DEENA 7 SID,” Stuart Macleod, ATSB director transport safety explained.

The trailing A330 – which was being used on a domestic flight – had a lower fuel load and better climb performance than it would have had for an international service.

“The departure controller did not expect this, and instead expected the A330 to have a similar climb performance to the 787 it was following, thus remain behind it and turn at about the same location,” Macleod said.

Instead, the Qantas widebody reached 6,000ft as it passed DEENA, and began its turn about 12 miles (20km) from the airport. Meanwhile, the heavier 787 reached 6,000ft sometime after passing DEENA, and began its own turn about 15 miles (25km) from the hub.

This meant the A330 turned inside the path of the Dreamliner as they climbed to the same altitude.

DEENA7.JPG
DEENA7.JPG (75.15 KiB) Viewed 198 times

The separation between the jets reduced to 2.4nm laterally and 600ft vertically. This is below the required limits of either 4nm laterally (for ‘heavy’ aircraft) or 1,000ft vertically.

The BA flight crew later told the investigation that they had received a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) advisory during the departure, and the first officer had subsequently visually identified the A330.

“Maintaining separation in high traffic terminal areas, such as Sydney, requires that both controllers and flight crews remain vigilant, maintain open communications, and use the available systems and tools to minimise the risk of errors,” Macleod said.

“When sequencing departures, controllers should consider a number of factors, including how the flight duration (and the associated fuel load) will likely affect aircraft climb performance.”

The ATSB’s final report notes that, in the last decade in Australia, there have been eight loss of separation occurrences involving aircraft cleared on a SID, where a following aircraft has climbed faster than the preceding aircraft.

Of these, six were at Sydney, and five involved the DEENA 7 SID.

As a result of this latest incident, Airservices Australia – the government-owned air navigation service provider – redesigned the DEENA 7 SID to remove the two conditional requirements of the procedure.
https://www.key.aero/article/ba-787-and ... -departure
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Re: DEENA 7 Loss of Separation Incident Report Out.

#2 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Tue Mar 07, 2023 7:27 pm

I was waiting in ops to depart an airport in Greece in a Cessna152, on a ferry flight, and was concerned because I had just been told that ATC required every departing aircraft to do an SID, whatever the weather or their requests.
I worked out that this could well put me into conflict with the airliners departing after me, due to the problem described above.
I consulted a Lufthansa captain who had arrived for the met. He informed me this was a well known problem. He said in VMC, all departing commercial aircraft simply turned the shortest way to their first en route track, but to keep the Greeks happy made all the radio calls as if they were doing the SID.
The ATC radar hadn't worked for years (the recent train crash in Greece shows the electrical maintenance problem is still rife), and the tower controllers weren't interested in SID aircraft, so the Greeks were (as intended) none the wiser.

The problem can also be solved on fighters by departing vertically ;)))

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