SAAB Aircraft Co. 340B; Sydney Airport, NSW

Discontinued Investigation

Statement of Reasons

Occurrence investigations commenced from 1 July 2003 are initially categorised as category 4 unless agreed by the ATSB Executive to be above this level at the outset. As detailed in Section 21 (2) of the TSI Act 2003, the Executive Director in empowered to discontinue an investigation at any time. Section 21 (3) of the TSI Act 2003 requires the Executive Director to publish a statement setting out the reasons for discontinuing an investigation (commenced from 1 July 2003) within 28 days of discontinuing the investigation.

Preliminary investigation was undertaken into a level 4 occurrence involving a SAAB 340 aircraft that had been cleared for takeoff and an aircraft tug that entered the runway strip at Sydney Airport on 27 August 2006. Safety action relevant to this occurrence has been taken in response to an earlier incident of a similar nature. Details of that safety action are contained in ATSB safety investigation report 200505170, published on 6 December 2006 and available on the ATSB website. Given the safety action already taken, there was limited safety benefit in continuing the 27 August 2006 investigation compared with other priorities.

Status: Downgraded the occurrence to level 5 and investigation discontinued.