Air Traffic control authority admits ‘human error’ in close shave at Porto airport

Portugal’s air traffic control authority NAV has admitted ‘human error’ as the reason for the ‘close shave’ at Porto airport last month when a Ryanair flight was given clearance for landing on the same runway as a SATA plane preparing for take-off. The mistake however was ‘rectified immediately’ and took place in the context of “elevated traffic volume and complexity”. This conclusion comes in the preliminary report of the incident. NAV adds that it is “focusing all its attention on the analysis of this incident, in a constant search for the continuous improvement of operational safety, seeking to identify the causality and the contributions to this occurrence”. Earlier this week its Safety Committee met, in which the technical and operational directorates were present “to analyze the preliminary report, together with the administration”.