The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) on Thursday issued an order requesting airport administrators across the country to beef up safety control of their ground vehicle operations after a number of accidents caused by the ground vehicles had happened at their flight zones.

The most recent accident occurred at 8:45 am on February 18 when an airport tractor managed by Pacific Airlines went out of control and collided with a sign board at the flight zone inside Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

Earlier, a Vietjet Air-operated Airbus A321 aircraft, which was being towed towards its parking lot, crashed a stair truck of the Saigon Ground Services (SAGS) at Tan Son Nhat at 8:40 pm on February 12.

The collision caused a dent on the stair truck’s hood and bent its back hydraulic kickstand. 

Likewise, the Airbus A321 plane was dented for about 20 centimeters on its right-wing tip.

In order to minimize incidents involving ground support vehicles operating in the areas of runways, taxiways, and aprons, the CAAV requested aviation service providers to raise awareness of aviation safety among their staff, and strictly comply with regulations on safe operations of ground support equipment and aircrafts.

The aviation service providers are also asked to ramp up their activities of training and issuing professional certificates to ensure their employees’ performance.

In addition, ground services providers are required to review and improve the quality of ground vehicle operations and adjust training materials in accordance with the actual conditions at each airport. 

There should be a guide for employees to identify and prevent hazards that may occur during the ground vehicle operations.

Ground vehicle operators also have to strictly carry out the required maintenance of ground vehicles and equipment, minimize the failure of vehicles and equipment in operation, and strongly handle violators.

On the other hand, airport administrators are required to beef up inspection and supervision of the flight zone operations and strictly handle violations in this area.

All units in the flight zone must also seriously draw thorough experience from past violations and incidents.

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