Air Canada AC624 pilot landed without instrument landing sys

[Oscar]

Air Canada AC624 pilot had to land without instrument landing system, ex-inspector says

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot ... -1.3015771 ]

'When you start hurting people, all of a sudden it becomes popular to spend some money'

CBC News Posted: Mar 31, 2015 9:10 AM AT| Last Updated: Mar 31, 2015 12:02 PM AT

The pilot who crash-landed Air Canada Flight AC624 in Halifax early Sunday had to bring the aircraft in without benefit of an instrument landing system, a retired Transport Canada aviation inspector says.

Jock Williams told CBC Tuesday the AC624 pilot used the "back course," which he described as "the poor sister of the instrument landing system."

Halifax does have a proper instrument landing system to help aircraft in poor weather, but only on one end of the runway that was in use Sunday. Given the weather and wind direction, the pilot used the other end of the runway.

Williams told CBC’s Information Morning that adding such a system to each runway would be expensive.

"The Halifax airport, and every other airport in the country, has financial constraints," Williams said. "They don’t have an unlimited supply of money. And let me tell you, passengers would be the first to complain about increased costs if the airlines were required to pay for it."

The airport has said it follows the guidelines of Nav Canada, the company that provides air navigation systems in Canada, which Williams did not dispute. He said Sunday’s crash may lead to changes.

"That’s what we call the blood imperative: when you start hurting people, all of a sudden it becomes popular to spend some money. But I wouldn’t be blaming Nav Canada. I’d be blaming the generally penuriousness of the Canadian public. We don’t like to spend money on stuff."

He added: "Everybody likes to criticize after there’s been an accident, but nobody likes to ante up ahead of time"

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