Parts of a plane fell on the runway at Ben Gurion Airport on Friday, posing a danger to planes taking off later.
The parts fell from a Delta plane that took off last Saturday evening, and the control systems warned of dangerous objects detected on the takeoff runway.
The warning systems drew the controller's attention, but he was unable to spot the objects and so flagged the alert as a false alarm. By morning, the objects remained on the runway, and five planes taking off could have been hit by the pieces left scattered on the runway.
News 2 reported that officials involved in testing the alert system claim that 50% of the cameras are not functioning properly and do not allow for proper control of the tracks, which leads to a significant safety hazard.
On the other hand, Ben Gurion Airport Manager Shmuel Zakai clarified that the systems are in order, and that the employee is to blame: "The system complies with the mandatory international standards. In the safety incident, the radar identified the parts of the plane that fell. The employee who was on duty did not follow the procedures and the workers' committee refused to send the employee for the investigation that should have been conducted.".
The workers' committee responded: "Throughout the day, we asked the Airports Authority management to come down to the area with us to check the cameras. Unfortunately, the management representatives refused to check and continue to whitewash the safety lapse.".
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
