alaskaflyer
Final Approach
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Alaskaflyer
http://www.anchoragepress.com/articles/2008/11/20/news/doc4924831141bbd480820118.txt
OK, but get this:Last week, the state of Alaska replaced some traffic-control gates at the Unalaska Airport.
The old gates proved insufficient in April of this year, when an airplane collided with the top of a tractor-trailer rig, then crashed on the runway. The airplane was a Grumman “Goose” G-21A, operated by Peninsula Airways. The tractor-trailer was owned by Horizon Lines of Alaska. Last month, Pen Air filed suit against Horizon, claiming the truck driver caused the accident by ignoring warning lights and driving into the path of the airplane.
All nine people onboard the plane survived, although one passenger broke her hand. The flashing warning lights worked the day of the accident, but the gates that were meant to drop in front of traffic did not, according a preliminary report from a National Transportation Safety Board official who investigated the crash. The NTSB investigator also wrote that the truck driver reported waiting about 45 seconds but saw no airplane, and proceeded onto the runway while red warning lights were flashing.
The gates at the Unalaska airport are something of an oddity. Both the gates and warning lights are operated remotely by the pilot, using the airplane’s radio. Approaching pilots tune to a certain frequency and key their radio microphone seven times to signal the gate to drop. Pilots are also responsible for turning the warning lights off and raising the gates once they land or take-off.