The control tower Jorge Chavez airport and the fire patrol that collided with a Latam plane on Friday, November 18, maintained contact until seconds before the deadly collision, according to audio to which he had access The Republic.
The recording also shows that the tower controllers They were fully informed of the exercise scheduled by the firefighters, and that they observed when the vehicle headed towards the runway while the Latam aircraft proceeded to take off.
“Confirming exercise”, the control tower responded to the supervisor of the aeronautical fire brigade at 3:09 pm on November 18. In other words, Corpac authorized the practice of rescuers, which consisted of determining the time it took them to go to an emergency.
After two minutes, at 3.11 pm, the control tower confirmed to the firefighters the departure of the trucks from the station to comply with the scheduled exercise: “At sight, rescue (firefighters).” A few seconds later the collision occurred.
The audio verifies the coordination between the fire station and the control tower, and that the latter was maintained at all times, before and during the exercise.
From the audio in which the voice of the controllers who were on duty that day is heard, it is possible to reconstruct the events that ended the lives of the firefighters Ángel Torres and Nicolás Santa Gadea.
Indeed, at 3:00 pm, the surface controllers asked the pilot of the Latam 2213 plane to move to the point before entering the runway. Then they asked him to change the frequency to coordinate with the controllers who are in charge of the landing strip.
Meanwhile, the surface controllers (all controllers, whether surface or flight, are in the control tower) coordinated with the fire station supervisor to start the drill.
At 3:05 pm, the control tower informed the rescue team that they might approach 90 meters from the axis of the landing strip, a place where there are safety cones that prevent entry to the runway.
“Rescue 6, authorized approach 90 meters from the axis of the runway, the cones of the vehicular road, Whiskey side (west side of the runway)”, was the indication that the firefighters received from the control tower.
At this point there are two versions: sources close to Lima Airport Partners (LAP) indicate that the request for the tower was for the firefighters to remove the cones before starting the exercise. Instead, sources Peruvian Corporation of Commercial Aviation and Airports (Corpac) assure that, in reality, the control tower was only giving them authorization to approach that place and not to enter the active runway (where the Latam plane was in the process of taking off). This point will be clarified by the Aviation Accident Investigation Commission (CIAA).
In the following minutes, the control tower asked the firefighters to pay attention to any indication prior to the start of the exercise. At that time, it is presumed that the exercise began, because, at 3:11 pm, the control tower clearly indicated that it saw the fire trucks leaving the new fire station. And he even details that he sees them on “Quebec Street”, a runway perpendicular to the runway.
The controllers see, from their privileged position, the entire panorama of what happens on the runway and surrounding areas. That is why it is understood that they confirm the visualization of the vehicles moving through the alternate streets. They might also see that the fire vehicle leading the patrol was heading towards the runway where the Latam plane was taking off. Were the controllers in a position to warn the fire brigade of the presence of the aircraft?
The complete audios are in the hands of Corpac
According to the audio accessed by this newspaper, seconds following the crash, the controller in charge authorized the second truck to enter the active track.
Before the collision, the control tower did not give explicit authorization to the fire trucks to enter the active runway, as stated in the rules of the Ministry of Transport and Communications that regulate the activities in the airport.
However, as this newspaper has reported, on August 17 of this year there was a drill that involved entering the active runway, and which was approved by the authorities involved, including Corpac. It would be missing to know if in that case there was explicit authorization; If this was not the case, it would be presumed that both LAP and Corpac were not complying with the procedure stipulated in the regulations.
It should also be noted that in the drill last August two exercises were carried out, one on the airstrip and the other on the alternate street called Lima.
The complete audio, with the responses of the firefighters, is only available to Corpac. This material will be submitted for evaluation by the CIAA.
Given
Caveat. The LAP company reported that the audio of a communication between members of this company and the control tower is circulating, and that it has been edited with the purpose of misinforming regarding the case. He asked the MTC to intervene. The recording is not the same as the one obtained by this newspaper.