Canoe

Sunday, September 10, 2000

Passengers endangered as jets stray into military airspace By ALISON AULD-- The Canadian Press

HALIFAX (CP) -- At least five commercial jetliners have flown into restricted Canadian military airspace in the last 10 months, potentially endangering hundreds of passengers.

In one case this April, a Boeing 767 travelling from Madrid to Chicago was cleared by air traffic control to enter restricted airspace over Lake Huron.

In another incident last Nov. 10, a large commercial airliner ventured into restricted airspace south of Halifax, say documents obtained by The Canadian Press.

"There are many activities which may occur in these (restricted) areas which may pose a danger to commercial aircraft," says a safety advisory from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

The document, obtained under the Access to Information Act, says there have been a total of five such occurrences since November in which commercial aircraft flew into prohibited military airspace in the Atlantic and central regions.

The military restricts airspace when it is test-flying aircraft, firing guns or missiles, tracking targets and other such activities.

In all of the incidents, air traffic controllers allowed the planes to fly into the restricted zones, says the report.

The Transportation Safety Board says a lack of communication between the controllers and the Department of National Defence is largely responsible for the violations. It suggests the controllers weren't always fully informed about the restrictions.

There was a "lack of appropriate controller information or confusion as to when and whether the airspace was active," says the document.

Louis Garneau, a spokesman with Nav Canada, the non-profit company responsible for air traffic controllers, said he didn't believe the incidents posed any danger to the aircraft or passengers.

Nav Canada issues notices to controllers and pilots when particular airspaces become restricted military zones. Pilots are responsible for incorporating that information into their flight plans.

"All I can say is that the controller does have a significant amount of information to process at any given time," Garneau said from Ottawa.

"Human error does happen occasionally. It's a rare occurrence, but it does happen."

In one incident, an Airbus A340-313 heading from Calgary to Frankfurt headed into a restricted airspace because a notice about the restriction hadn't been entered into Nav Canada's display system.

In its report, the Transportation Safety Board suggests Nav Canada review its communication practices to make sure controllers are getting the correct information.

"They have to communicate a little better to get things straight," board spokesman J.P. Arsenault said from Hull, Que.

Garneau said Nav Canada has started trying to improve communication and display systems. A new radar that has yet to be implemented will show restricted airspaces by different colour codes.

The control centre in Moncton, N.B., has also set up a direct line with the military's maritime command to be alerted when an airspace becomes restricted, Garneau said.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 10, 2000