Pilots and airways have expressed issues over a rise in doubtlessly harmful incidents in Mexico Metropolis’s airspace because it was redesigned to accommodate a second airport, together with alerts that planes may crash except motion was taken.
They recommend air visitors controllers have been insufficiently educated to function the newly configured airspace. Up to now yr, there have been not less than 17 incidents of floor proximity warning system alerts for planes approaching Mexico Metropolis’s Benito Juarez Worldwide Airport, based on a letter the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation, which represents some 290 airways, wrote this week to the pinnacle of Mexican Airspace Navigation Providers, the federal government company accountable for managing the airspace.
“As you realize, these alarms, with out the fast motion of the flight crew, can result in a situation of managed flight into terrain, CFIT, thought-about by the trade to be one of many highest danger indicators in operational security, and with the very best accident fee, in addition to fatalities,” the letter stated. The Mexican company referred a request for remark to the transportation ministry Friday.
The next day, the Worldwide Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations issued a security bulletin drawing consideration to such incidents, in addition to planes touchdown with very low gasoline after being compelled to circle unexpectedly and diversions to different airports due to extreme delays. It additionally cited “important” floor proximity warning techniques alerts, together with a close to collision.
The incidents observe the opening of the brand new Felipe Angeles Worldwide Airport north of Mexico’s capital in March. The transformed navy air base was considered one of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s signature initiatives. “It will seem that with the opening of this newly transformed airport, (air visitors management) has apparently acquired little coaching and assist as to how you can function this new configuration within the airspace,” the bulletin stated.
Each the pilots’ federation and the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation famous {that a} issue within the incidents seemed to be air visitors controllers not utilizing customary phrasing of their communications with flight crews. The affiliation requested a gathering with Mexican aviation authorities as quickly as doable.
Lopez Obrador cancelled the earlier administration’s partially constructed airport, which was supposed to interchange Benito Juarez, as a result of it was too lavish. There have been issues at the moment that Lopez Obrador’s plan to function two airports concurrently may create issues over the capital. The Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation’s letter stated the incidents had been reported “for the reason that implementation of the primary section of the redesign of the Mexico Valley airspace.”
The pilots’ federation bulletin stated, “Crews have acquired clearances that don’t adhere to terrain avoidance restrictions” on routes used to strategy the Benito Juarez airport. IFALPA declined to remark past their security bulletin and referred inquiries to their Mexican affiliate.
On Wednesday, Transportation and Infrastructure Undersecretary Rogelio Jimenez Pons advised native media the federal government has determined to scale back the variety of flights allowed to land on the outdated airport by 20 %. He made no point out of the security bulletin or the reported incidents.
The discount is to start out in July, and will power about 10 every day flights to the brand new airport. The federal government had already stated any new flights scheduled into Mexico Metropolis should use Felipe Angeles, however the brand new discount applies to some current routes.
Jimenez Pons stated the outdated airport needed to scale back visitors as a result of it’s overloaded and wishes updates. He stated airways can select to go the Felipe Angeles terminal or to an much more distant, largely unused airport in metropolis of Toluca over a mountain go to the west.
The Mexican pilots affiliation, a member of the worldwide federation, stated Thursday that it had requested a gathering with Mexican aeronautical authorities to debate the state of affairs and share the experiences of its pilots.
It referred to as on Mexican Airspace Navigation Providers “to deal with Mexican and overseas pilots’ reviews, searching for within the first place the security of air operations and the effectivity of our airspace.”
One yr in the past, US regulators downgraded Mexico’s aviation security ranking, a transfer that stops Mexican airways from increasing flights to the US.
The Federal Aviation Administration had discovered that Mexico’s potential to supervise its airways falls in need of requirements set by a United Nations group referred to as the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group. These requirements cowl a broad vary of points together with the regulator’s technical experience, inspection procedures and record-keeping.
The Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation letter alluded to that state of affairs, noting that these incidents “for sure don’t assist in the method during which Mexico finds itself immersed, attempting to recuperate its Class 1 (aviation security ranking) that was withdrawn by the FAA final yr.”
Mexico’s Nationwide Air Transport Chamber referred to as on the nation’s aviation authorities “to deal with with the very best precedence the reviews which have been made to them for months and make recognized the prognosis and the measures to mitigate the corresponding dangers.”