The Transportation Safety Board is investigating a runway incursion at Trail Regional airport in British Columbia in which a collision was narrowly avoided.

On December 12, a fully loaded Pacific Coastal Beech 19C from Vancouver landed on runway 16 at Trail. An airport vehicle was on the runway doing an inspection at the time.

The plane gained on the vehicle as they sped down the runway, and a collision was only avoided when the vehicle turned onto the only apron mere seconds before the plane passed the same spot.

None of the 19 passengers or two crew members on board the Beech 1900C was hurt.

Just posted: #TSBAir investigation page A18P0177 https://t.co/v4vYA6B7g0. This page will be updated as the investigation progresses and new information is made available, or safety communications are issued.

— TSB of Canada (@TSBCanada) December 24, 2018

Trail airport serves about 22,000 passengers per year, and opened a new terminal building in 2017 to handle increased passenger loads.

Pacific Coastal is the only airline serving the airport, with twice-daily flights to Vancouver.

The investigation will be led by Dan Clarke, who joined the TSB this year after several years at Transport Canada and work as an aircraft maintenance engineer.

Western Aviation News will feature an examination of runway incursions, their causes and prevalence, in the new year.