Description

On 27 May 2012, an Airbus A320 being operated by Air France on a scheduled passenger flight from Barcelona to Paris CDG was cleared to taxi across an active runway at Barcelona in front of a Boeing 737-800 being operated by Ryanair which was on a scheduled passenger flight from Palma to Barcelona and cleared to land on the same runway with normal daylight visibility prevailing. Before entering the runway, the A320 crew, aware of the aircraft on approach, had queried their crossing clearance but the ATC instruction to stop was given too late to bring the aircraft to a stop prior to the unlit stop bar. A go around was ordered by ATC and there was no actual risk of collision.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Spanish Investigation Agency Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil (CIAIAC). It was established that a routine scheduled change of runway configuration was about to take place and the final aircraft movements on the outgoing configuration, including the 737 involved, had been decided and were known to the executive controllers on duty in both TWR and GND positions.