Investigators have disclosed that an Aeroflot Airbus A320 crossed a hold-short line at Paris Charles de Gaulle while an Airbus A330-300 had been conducting its departure from the same runway.
The Air Transat A330 had been cleared to take off from runway 27L, for a service to Montreal, and had been lining up when its crew saw the A320 landing on the parallel runway 27R.
Both of the A330 pilots heard air traffic control instruct the A320 to hold short of 27L as it taxied for the terminals, and this was correctly read back by the Aeroflot crew, says the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
But the board says that, as the A330 accelerated through 120kt, air traffic control queried the Aeroflot aircraft as to whether it had stopped, and gave a second instruction to hold short.
The board says the flight crew "replied that they were stopped and holding short of runway 27L".
But it states that, as the A330 passed the Aeroflot jet, its crew observed that it had "stopped on the wrong side" of the hold-short line.
Air Transat's flight TS397 had been transporting 308 passengers and 11 crew members at the time of the 8 March incident.
Meteorological data for Charles de Gaulle at the time indicates the presence of light rain, although visibility remained good.
Runway 27L, formerly designated 27, was the scene of a fatal runway incursion in May 2000 when an Air Liberte Boeing MD-83 rolling for take-off struck a Shorts 330 which had previously been cleared to line up.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
