Mehow@MehowHacks
You're not listening to enough of the audio—it's a single human ATC error, barring any wild new data. The same controller clears the firetruck straight at JZA646. Get the AI ATC systems in there because they would have caught this. It's like the controller forgot he had another plane coming in after the Southwest that he himself cleared.
Here is all the relevant Tower audio that's not omitting the entire error. The tower controller clears JZA646 to land on runway 4 at 21:35:04 (that's 25 seconds into the attached audio). A Southwest plane, SWA3988, lands on 4, and shortly thereafter—at 21:37:02 (nearly 2 minutes later from the initial clearance to land for the Air Canada)—the SAME controller clears the truck onto the same runway that the JZA646 pilots, who are unknowingly in the last 20 seconds of their lives, are landing on. Within seconds he realizes his mistake ("stop, stop"), but it's too late.
Horrible loss of life from a single human ATC error. This, however, is not a coordination error, not a problem between Ground and Tower, and not some systemic problem—unless these guys are just overworked—EXCEPT that there's no tech in place to fix this. As a pilot, I hate seeing a situation where ATC kills pilots and passengers. Whether you're a ground vehicle or a plane crossing an active runway, you're always talking to Tower (the aircraft has right of way). In this case, the same controller at Tower. And that controller put the aircraft and the firetruck on the same runway at the exact same time. He sounds pretty relaxed until he realizes his mistake.
My only other comment is that it would have been a miracle if the pilots had heard the truck clearance and initiated a go-around themselves. As a pilot, once you get clearance to land, you're so focused on landing that you're not really paying attention to Tower anymore unless they call you directly. The pilots are still listening on Tower frequency and can hear everything Tower is saying, but sadly they didn't notice the controller's mistake—and they lost their lives. More excepted would be the truck crew checking whats coming in on final but that didn't happen either.
@elonmusk and @xai Please get the better software in there ASAP.
My heart goes out to the crew, the families of the pilots, the passengers, and the controller. I hope everyone in the hospital makes it.
Bottom line a chat bot can trivially catch this mistake - let's get the tech in there.
