Report Highlights Risk of US Airport Runway Collisions
Investigators have identified a number of factors that could place airline passengers in the US at risk of being involved in a serious runway collision. These contributories include unstable federal leadership, overworked Air Traffic Control (ATC) staff and technology not performing as it should.
The assessors conceded that the Federal Aviation Administration – the US regulatory body responsible for overseeing civil aviation stateside – had effectively lessened the number of runway safety infringements since 2001 – when the number of such incidents peaked. More recently, though, the administration’s “runway safety efforts (have) subsequently waned”, they added.
370 US Airport Runway Incursions from September ’06-‘07
In a 12 month period ending September 30th 2007, 370 runway incursions were noted – equivalent to 6.05 within every one million operations carried out by ATC. This kind of frequency harked back to 2001, when the rate was 6.1/one million, or 407 runway incursions. An incursion, here, is defined as a person, aircraft or any other mode of transport moving in a designated take off/ landing area when it shouldn’t be.
The report, which was carried out by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), asserted that, presently, "no single office is taking charge of assessing the causes of runway safety problems and taking the steps needed to address those problems."
In August 2007, Marion Blakeley, the then-Federal Aviation Administrator, urged for a wide-spanning conference in order to come up with ideas to resolve the runway incursion issues. Two months later, the FAA announced that some of the proposals that arose during the conference had been progressed, including clearer runway markings and additional training for pilots.
The GAO’s report acknowledged these measures, but recommended additional leadership at FAA-level, improvements in the collection of data and fewer overtime demands on Air Traffic Controllers.
24 Serious Airport Runway Incursions in 2007
Serious incursions, involving a near-collision, actually occurred less frequently in 2007 – 24 as opposed to 2006’s 31. However, according to the report, the number is still high enough to pose ”a high risk of a catastrophic runway collision."
Responding to the GAO publication, the FAA highlighted how it had achieved its aim to lessen the amount of serious incursions by nearly 25 per cent this year. It added, in respect of Air Traffic Control overtime, that this issue was a temporary one and taking on additional staff would resolve this.
Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the FAA, said that significant emphasis is placed on runway safety and that the body “is safely staffing all of its air traffic facilities."
63 People Killed in Runway Collisions Since 1990
In the past 17 years, six runway collisions at US airports have caused the deaths of 63 people.
So far this year, a number of explicit near-misses have occurred, including the following:
- July 5th 2007 at LaGuardia Airport in New York. A landing Boeing 737 operated by Delta Airlines came close to colliding with a smaller airliner on the ground cleared to cross the runway in error.
- July 11th 2007 at Fort Lauderdale Airport in Florida. A Boeing 757 operated by Delta Airlines landed, but rapidly took off again to avoid colliding with an Airbus A-320 that shouldn’t have been on the runway.
- August 16th 2007 at Los Angeles International Airport. A pair of commercial airliners with 296 on board missed each other by 37 feet.
All three incidents are currently the subject of National Transportation Safety Board investigations, as are a further trio.
The report found that a national runway safety plan had not been issued by the FAA’s Office of Runway Safety for five years.
Source – Airport International’s US Correspondent
