What happened
On the morning of Monday, 11 March 2013, a maintenance van belonging to Sunwing Airlines was left unoccupied in a driveway near Gate Hotel 16 at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Without a driver at the controls, the vehicle began moving away from the gate area, traveling southeast toward the threshold of Runway 24R, which was active for arrivals at the time.
Simultaneously, an Air Canada EMB190, operating as flight ACA178 and arriving from Edmonton with 67 passengers, was on its final approach to Runway 24R. Air Traffic Control identified the moving vehicle on the airport surface detection equipment (ASDE) radar. Controllers issued two separate instructions to the crew of ACA178 to execute a go-around. However, the flight crew did not realize the instructions were directed at them and did not observe the van on the airfield. The aircraft continued its approach, flying directly over the vehicle, and completed the landing without any impact or incident. The van was eventually found stationary in a grassy area southeast of taxiway D7.
The investigation
Investigators focused on the movement of the Sunwing Airlines vehicle and the communication between Air Traffic Control and the incoming flight. The investigation established that the vehicle departed from its parked position while unattended and moved into the approach path of the arriving aircraft. The investigation also examined why the flight crew did not respond to the go-around instructions provided by the controllers.