What happened
On August 22, 2020, at 16:15 local time, a near-miss incident occurred at Keflavik Airport during the final approach to Runway 01. A Diamond DA-20, registration TF-KFG, was conducting a training flight. While the student pilot and instructor were inbound, a scheduled passenger flight, an Airbus A320 with registration HA-LXG, was also on its initial approach to the same runway.
During the sequence, the flight crew of the HA-LXG noticed traffic on their navigation display and visually confirmed the presence of the training aircraft ahead of them. This prompted the crew to initiate a go-around. During the initial phase of the go-around, the crew received a Traffic Advisory (TA) from the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Surveillance data confirmed that the two aircraft reached a minimum vertical separation of 225 feet and a minimum horizontal separation of 0-59 NM.
The investigation
The RNSA investigation established that the pilots of TF-KFG failed to report over the compulsory waypoint, PATTERSON, as instructed. Instead, they proceeded directly toward the final approach. The investigation found that the flight crew of the training aircraft did not hear the communications between the tower controller and the crew of the HA-LXG, and they did not receive traffic information regarding the approaching passenger flight.
At the time of the incident, the Air Traffic Controller (ATCO) was managing both tower and ground frequencies simultaneously. The investigation noted that the ATCO was communicating with another aircraft on the ground frequency, which led to rapid transmissions. Furthermore, the student pilot responded to an instruction using the term "WILCO" rather than providing a full readback of the clearance. This prevented the ATCO from identifying a misunderstanding regarding the required reporting point.
Findings
Several contributing factors led to the loss of separation:
- The pilots of TF-KFG failed to adhere to the compulsory reporting point instructions.
- The training crew did not monitor or hear the landing clearance issued to the passenger aircraft.
- The ATCO was operating multiple frequencies simultaneously, which contributed to rapid transmissions and a lack of clear communication.
- A lack of situational awareness was present in both the training crew and the ATCO.
- The use of "WILCO" by the student pilot resulted in a hear-back error, as the response did not contain the necessary information to verify the instruction was understood correctly.
- The ATCO was not actively monitoring the specific location of the training aircraft on the surveillance display.