Airline's Goose Was Cooked By Passing Truck

Earlier this year, ANN reported on a story from Unalaska, AK that probably sounded a little foreign to most residents of the lower 48.

On April 9, the driver of a tractor-trailer rig owned by Horizon Lines stopped at the crossing where Ballyhoo Road meets the runway of the city's airport, after seeing the flashing lights which indicate a plane is about to take off or land on runway 12/30.

The truck driver later told the National Transportation Safety Board that after waiting about 45 seconds, the gates which are supposed to come down to block the road did not, and he could not see an airplane approaching, so he rolled past the lights to cross the runway.

The truck drove directly into the path of a Peninsula Airways Grumman Goose on final approach to 30. All nine people on the plane survived the resulting collision, but the plane was damaged, and one passenger broke her hand.

In media reports which followed the accident, others who frequent the area charged that the lights often provided false alarms. They operate like pilot-controlled lighting, requiring seven clicks from an aircraft radio to activate the warning lights and lower the gates. If the pilot forgets to turn the lights off, they keep flashing.

The NTSB report quoted ADOT as stating that the gates had been, "out of service for more than a year due to budgetary constraints," that their chain-drive mechanism was prone to fail in the harsh climate, and that new gates were in the works. The road which crosses the runway approach is the only one available between Unalaska and a city-owned dock north of the airport, which lies adjacent to Dutch Harbor.

The Anchorage Press reports some new developments in this odd story. First, Pen Air filed suit against Horizon Lines, claiming the truck driver caused the accident.

On a more positive note, the new gates were installed last week at a cost of $600,000. Anna Walker, an airport safety and security officer at ADOT, says the agency and the trucking firm are cooperating to make sure everything goes to plan.

"Right now, we have a person on the ground with a radio to make sure all this works," she said. We are going to continue that practice for awhile. I can’t say for certain how long."

Peninsula Airways is seeking least $100,000 for damage to the Goose, and claims Horizon’s driver had his license suspended at the time of the accident.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.penair.com