Three airliners landed at Birmingham Airport while a stepladder was on the runway following a mishap by maintenance workers, an investigation has found.
The metal ladder fell off the back of a maintenance pick-up truck close to the runway’s centreline, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.
It was several minutes before the two engineering technicians in the vehicle realised the stepladder was missing.
Flight crew on board the first two aircraft to subsequently land – operated by Ryanair and Jet2.com – reported that they may have seen an unusual object on the runway but were not sure.
They were followed by a Tui Airways plane, whose crew confirmed the presence of the stepladder.
A total of 426 people were on board the planes.
Large foreign object on runway during operations at Birmingham AirportRead the AAIB report:https://t.co/h7sAiwnsXB pic.twitter.com/SPz4PZ5dHB
— AAIB (@aaibgovuk) February 25, 2021
The stepladder – which extended to 7ft (2.1m) – was lying flat on the runway for 37 minutes before it was retrieved by the airport safety team.
The maintenance workers had used an elastic bungee cord in an attempt to secure it, which the AAIB described as “not suitable”.
More effective equipment was available but “not readily to hand”, investigators said.
Birmingham Airport carried out its own inquiry and took several safety actions intended to prevent a reoccurrence of the incident, which happened on September 8 last year.
The Civil Aviation Authority issued a safety alert to raise awareness of the event among airport workers.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here