Steamboat Pilot & Today archive
Federal investigators have determined an incident at the Yampa Valley Regional Airport on Jan. 22, 2022, involving a JetBlue Airbus A320-232 striking its tail on the runway, resulted from factors including incorrect assumptions made by the JetBlue pilots and unclear communications from an approaching aircraft.
The incident occurred as the JetBlue aircraft took off from runway 10 on its way to Ft. Lauderdale, while pilots of a Beechcraft B-300 King Air were making their final approach to runway 28.
According to the report from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), investigators found the JetBlue pilots believed the King Air pilots were landing on runway 10 and “expedited their departure so they would not interfere with (their) landing, which they believed was going to happen behind them once they departed runway 10.”
The NTSB report found that: “In this case, the crew’s expectation that the King Air was arriving on runway 10 biased their perception of incoming information such that contradictory evidence (radio calls indicating the King Air was landing on runway 28) was ignored or manipulated in the brain to be consistent with the person’s current expectation.”
The investigators also determined the King Air pilots’ communications “had the potential to be clearer.”
“All calls made (by the King Air) omitted identifying the airport at least once at the beginning or end of the transmission and sometimes they completely omitted the airport name,” the report stated. “This non-standard phraseology reduced the effectiveness of their radio calls by providing opportunity for their call to be dismissed as relating to a different airport, or not relevant for the airport at hand.”
The JetBlue pilots announced on the airport’s common traffic advisory frequency that their aircraft was leaving the ramp area to taxi to runway 10 for departure at 11:48 a.m., according to the NTSB investigation.
Seconds later, pilots of a Beechcraft B300 King Air reported over the frequency that they were “about 9 minutes out, for (runway) ten, coming in from the east, descending out of 17,000 feet.” But then the pilots changed their intentions and stated they would land on runway 28.
The operator of the Universal Communications Frequency at Yampa Valley Regional Airport, which is used by the airport’s firefighters to provide pilots with local wind information, responded to the Beechcraft aircraft stating there were “multiple aircraft inbound” and winds were calm.
As the JetBlue pilots were performing their after-start checklist, the King Air announced they were on a “12-mile final (runway 28) straight-in” and asked if any aircraft was going to depart from runway 10, to which the JetBlue pilots replied that they intended to hold on the taxiway near the end of runway 10 and wait for clearance to take off, according to the report.
“Alright, copy,” the JetBlue pilot responded to the King Air’s pilots after they announced they were on a 10-mile final approach.
At 11:56 a.m., the JetBlue pilots announced they had received clearance for takeoff on runway 10. Within five seconds of that transmission, the King Air pilots said they were on a final approach to runway 28, adding “they had been calling.” The JetBlue pilots then said they thought they were 8-9 miles away.
The King Air pilot replied they were four miles away, and then added “even less than that.”
According to the cockpit voice recording, the JetBlue first officer stated they were looking for the airplane both visually and on their onboard radar systems, but did not see the King Air. The JetBlue pilot then acknowledged the King Air and announced they were beginning their takeoff from runway 10.
“I hope you don’t hit us,” the King Air pilot said.
As the JetBlue plane rolled down the runway for its take-off, the first officer then reported that he observed the King Air on its approach to runway 2,8 and pointed out the aircraft on a radar display to the JetBlue captain.
“About 20 seconds after JetBlue started their take-off on runway 10, the flight crew of the King Air asked JetBlue if they were going to do a quick turn-out, to which they replied, ‘yes sir,’” according to the NTSB report.
Concurrent to the exchange, the JetBlue captain pitched the airplane up for take-off despite being 24 knots below the airplane’s rotation speed, which is the speed required for a plane to execute a take-off. The early pull-up caused the tail of the JetBlue airplane to strike the runway surface as it lifted off. The pilot then executed a sharp right turn.
“When JetBlue began its right turn after departure from runway 10, the King Air was on a reciprocal course with 2.27 nautical miles of separation between the converging airplanes,” the reported stated.
The NTSB report notes the tail strike occurred at 11:57 a.m., and that the JetBlue pilots discussed the incident but initially decided on continuing their flight to Ft. Lauderdale.
Five minutes later, as the plane flew at 16,000 feet, the pilots conferred with the airplane’s flight attendants, who told them they felt the plane’s tail strike the runway on take-off.
The information prompted the pilots to contact their maintenance controller, who advised them to land immediately. The flight crew then decided to divert to Denver International Airport, where they landed without incident.
While the NTSB did not specifically fault the operator of the airport’s Universal Communications Frequency, the investigators said they had “the opportunity to improve the situational awareness in the pattern by including runway in use information.”
There is no air traffic control tower at Yampa Valley Regional Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration only certifies control towers at airports where annual operations — the combined number landings and take-offs — exceed a figure of 100,000.
“We have about one quarter of that,” said Kevin Booth, Yampa Valley Regional Airport director.
Booth, who served 30 years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot, said the airport’s communications systems allow firefighter personnel to provide advisories to aircraft pilots who are landing or taking off, but they do not provide direction to pilots.
“At a non-towered airport like this, my firefighters will advise, if asked — or even if not — they will give the pilot the wind, and typically the wind will determine which runway it makes sense to land on, you want to land into a headwind,” Booth said.
Regarding the 2022 incident, Booth said he thought there were options for both the JetBlue and the King Air pilots to resolve it early on.
“I think (the) incident was about the JetBlue crew and the pilot and co-pilot of the King Air that was coming in the other direction,” Booth said. “They were aware of each other before the JetBlue ever took the runway. There was no reason that the King Air couldn’t have landed on the runway that JetBlue was taking off from. And there was no reason that JetBlue, once they took the runway and realized there was a conflict, couldn’t have taxied 300 feet and cleared the runway and just waited for the guy to land.
“As a pilot myself, I am reticent to say it was pilot error, but ultimately it was pilot error. My guys did a good job of informing them about each other and there was really no reason for that conflict to happen.”
