Incident Overview
On 8 September 2020 at 2227 UTC, a step ladder was discovered on Runway 33 at Birmingham Airport after having been present for 37 minutes. The ladder had fallen from a works pickup truck (Works Vehicle 4) driven by two airport engineering services technicians who had just completed maintenance on the approach lights. The ladder came to rest just to the right of the runway centreline in the touchdown zone.
Sequence of Events
Three commercial air transport aircraft landed on Runway 33 after the ladder was deposited. The first aircraft (Boeing 737-8AS, EI-DPC) landed at 2225 hrs, followed by the second (Boeing 737-8Z9, G-GDFR) at 2227 hrs. The crew of the second aircraft informed ATC that they might have seen something on the runway but were uncertain if it was a paint marking. The crew of the first aircraft then commented they may have also seen something after the touchdown markers. The tower controller relayed this to the third aircraft (Boeing 757-28A, G-OOBA) on final approach, asking if they were happy to continue. The crew elected to land at 2229 hrs and, upon slowing to vacate the runway, notified ATC that there was an object in the touchdown zone, possibly a ladder. ATC ordered a runway inspection, which found a 7 ft A-frame step ladder. The runway was closed for 19 minutes for a full inspection before reopening. The fourth arriving aircraft, 50 nm behind, was held and landed at 2254 hrs.
Airport and Vehicle Details
Birmingham Airport has a single runway 15/33 with grooved asphalt and supplementary touchdown zone lights for low visibility. The last runway inspection at 2128 hrs found nothing. The last aircraft movement before the incident was a departure from Runway 15 at 2135 hrs. Airport vehicles are tracked via surface movement radar (SMR) with transponders, but the SMR is not designed to detect foreign object debris.
The engineering services technicians used Works Vehicle 4, an all-wheel drive crew cab pickup truck with an open load bay and latched tailgate. The load bay had a rigid black plastic liner and two fixed cargo restraint rings. The ladder was secured with an elastic bungee strap taken from a storage cupboard. The bungee was approximately 80 cm long, 10 mm in diameter, with plastic-covered steel hooks. It could be stretched about 1.25 times its length, limited by the sheathing. The technicians chose WV4 due to reliability concerns with WV3 (a mobile workshop van) and difficulty securing equipment in WV10 (a panel van).
Ladder Description
The ladder was a lightweight A-frame of fibreglass and aluminium, 2.2 m high with 7 steps, painted bright yellow. It had a polypropylene step and hinge plate at the top and was in good working condition.
Post-Incident Actions
The airport operator conducted an investigation and implemented safety actions to prevent recurrence. The UK Civil Aviation Authority issued a SkyWise notification under Aerodrome Safety Alerts to raise awareness among airside workers.