Concerns over management of Mexico City airspace rise
MEXICO CITY — Pilots and airlines have expressed concerns over an increase in potentially dangerous incidents in Mexico City’s airspace since it was redesigned to accommodate a second airport, including alerts that planes could crash unless action was taken.
They suggest air traffic controllers have been insufficiently trained to operate the newly configured airspace.
In the past year, there were at least 17 incidents of ground proximity warning system alerts for planes approaching Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport, according to a letter the International Air Transport Association, which represents some 290 airlines, wrote last week to the head of Mexican Airspace Navigation Services, the government agency responsible for managing the airspace.
“As you know, these alarms, without the quick action of the flight crew, can lead to a scenario of controlled flight into terrain, CFIT, considered by the industry to be one of the highest risk indicators in operational safety, and with the highest accident rate, as well as fatalities,” the letter said. The Mexican agency referred a request for comment to the transportation ministry Friday.
The following day, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations issued a safety bulletin drawing attention to such incidents, as well as planes landing with very low fuel after being forced to circle unexpectedly and diversions to other airports because of excessive delays. It also cited “significant” ground proximity warning systems alerts, including a near collision.
The incidents follow the opening of the new Felipe Angeles International Airport north of Mexico’s capital in March. “It would appear that with the opening of this newly converted airport, (air traffic control) has apparently received little training and support as to how to operate this new configuration in the airspace,” the bulletin said.
Mexico’s Communications and Transportion Department, which oversees air safety agencies, acknowledged that there had been one instance of a Ground Proximity Warning System, or GPWS, alert on a plane last June. But it said that was the only incident that was reported to authorities.
Both the pilots’ federation and the International Air Transport Association noted that a factor in the incidents appeared to be air traffic controllers not using standard phraseology in their communications with flight crews. The association requested a meeting with Mexican aviation authorities as soon as possible.
There were concerns at that time that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s plan to operate two airports simultaneously could create problems over the capital. The International Air Transport Association’s letter said the incidents had been reported “since the implementation of the first phase of the redesign of the Mexico Valley airspace.”