1971 Sydney runway collision
Trans Australia Airlines Boeing 727 and CP Air Douglas DC-8 · Runway collision due to incorrect reading of instructions
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Unknown
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 240
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Aircraft 1 · Boeing 727
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- VH-TJA
- Operator
- Trans Australia Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 92
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Not stated
- Route
- From Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)To Perth International Airport (PER)
Aircraft 2 · Douglas DC-8
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-8
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- CF-CPQ
- Operator
- CP Air
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 148
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Not stated
- Route
- From Vancouver International Airport (YVR)To Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1971 Sydney runway collision was a collision at Sydney Airport on 29 January 1971 involving a Trans Australia Airlines Boeing 727-76 and a CP Air Douglas DC-8-63.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The investigation concluded that the cause of the accident was that the pilot of flight 301 misinterpreted the controller's instructions. It also said that the controllers and pilots of flight 592 were not aware of this and could not take measures to avoid the collision.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Portuguese Wikipedia article “Colisão na pista de Sydney em 1971” (revision 68317052, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Portuguese Wikipedia article: Colisão na pista de Sydney em 1971
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 68317052 · 2024-07-21 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q56349083
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- pt Wikipedia article "Colisão na pista de Sydney em 1971" (page 6784523, revision 68317052), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Portuguese Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.