The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in partnership with its controllers and industry, on Aug. 15 agreed to step up efforts to reduce the number of runway mishaps at U.S. airports, disclosing five short-term (30-60 day) initiatives.
The so-called aviation summit was attended by 40 aviation safety officials from the airline industry, aircraft and avionics manufacturers, unionized controllers and the FAA. The announced measures were wide ranging, but did not include further expedited deployment of the Sensis Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) surveillance radar. Nor do they include certification, procurement and deployment of lower-cost, alternative airport surface surveillance systems being tested successfully at Spokane International Airport.
FAA Deputy Administrator Bobby Sturgell said the initiatives brainstormed at the one-day meeting respond to recent runway incursions across the United States, including high- profile incidents in the last year in Chicago and Fort Lauderdale. “We have seen some incidents of late that concern us. We thought it was appropriate to re-energize and re-focus ourselves on this problem at this time.”
He said the U.S. aviation agency has been working to dramatically reduce the number of runway incursions and mishaps since 1999. “While making tremendous gains, we cannot rest on past successes,” said the senior FAA official. He said the five short-term measures are being worked in conjunction with medium-term and longer-term action items. Sturgell said “we need to keep our eyes on the ball” and maximize pilot situational awareness on the runway, minimize distractions and improve safety warnings. Sturgell said the quick fixes will include new technology, modified procedures and improved notice to airmen.
Airport safety reviews will be conducted at 20 un-named U.S. airports that have suffered multiple runway incursion incidents, with inspector teams, made up of FAA and airport officials, looking at operational procedures, signage and markings. Similar reviews will be undertaken at other airports “where taxiway, runway layout or other issues produce concern,” said Sturgell. The reviews of the runway and surface environments will be conducted during the next two months.
Sturgell is urging the top 73 U.S. airports to upgrade runway signs and markings over the next 60 days in advance of the current September 2008 deadline. He said “the improved visual references will enhance situational awareness for pilots.” And Sturgell said the initiative may go beyond the 73 airports.
The improvements will come in the wake of the fatal crash of Comair Flight 5191 a year ago at the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, KY. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ruled that confused pilots at the controls of the regional jet took off from the wrong runway. Enhanced ground markings and illuminated signage have been installed to include a large painted yellow square with an arrow directing pilots to Runway 22, the one which the ill-fated flight should have used. Comair and the Air Line Pilots Association International (ALPA) say the airport is partly to blame for the crash, alleging signage deficiencies at the time of the incident. But the NTSB said the airport’s runways “had appropriate runway holding position and taxiway location signs at the taxiway entrance to each runway.”
The FAA’s Associate Administrator for Safety Nick Sabatini said air carrier simulator training must now include ground movement operations from the gate to the takeoff position. He said some airline pilots are not currently practicing airport ground movements in simulators. Sabatini also said airports, airlines, controllers and the FAA will do a better job in sharing information across the entire community.
Airlines will modify their pre-departure checklists so that more checks are made at the gate, reducing distractions for pilots moving aircraft across the airport. And the FAA will perform a safety risk analysis to establish better ways for controllers to instruct departing aircraft. Sabatini says taxi instruction from controllers need to be more precise. Today, controllers are not required to give complete taxi route instructions to pilots. Without detailed instructions from the control tower, said Sabatini, pilots tend to take the shortest route possible.
The FAA, with the support of the controllers’ union, will establish a voluntary self-reporting safety system for controllers patterned after the highly successful Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP).
The NTSB says runway incursions increased “at alarming rates” from 1998 to 2001. The FAA took action, and the total number of runway incursions decreased from a high of 407 in fiscal year 2001 to a low of 323 in fiscal year 2003. However, since 2003, the number of runway incursions has leveled off “and very serious runway incursions continue to occur,” the Safety Board says.
“Preventing runway incursions throughout the National Airspace System requires continuous vigilance on the part of FAA and users. Compared to five years ago, the FAA has made significant progress in reducing those incidents. However, the serious risks associated with runway incursions underscore the need for maintaining a proactive approach for preventing serious incidents,” the NTSB added.
The FAA accelerated the introduction of ASDE-X at Chicago’s O’Hare International following high-profile runway incursions last year. The system should be operational at the end of August.
ASDE-X is also scheduled to be commissioned at Charlotte Douglas International Airport this year, bringing the nationwide ASDE-X total to 11. The FAA plans to eventually bring ASDE-X to 35 U.S. airports, including Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 2008.
The NTSB is investigating a runway incursion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in which two airliners may have come within100 feet of each other.
At about 2:30 p.m. on July 11, 2007, the crew of United Airlines Flight 1544, an Airbus A-320, received taxi clearance from the terminal to Runway 9L via Taxiway T7.
Delta Airlines flight 1489, a Boeing 757, arriving from Atlanta, Georgia was inbound for landing on Runway 9L. As United was taxiing on Taxiway D near Runway 9L, the tower controller noticed the airplane was going too fast to hold short of the runway and told the ground controller to tell United to stop. United stopped on Runway 9L, 30 feet from the centerline.
As Delta Flight 1489 was touching down on Runway 9L, the tower controller instructed them to “go around.” The airplane became airborne and the tower controllers reported that the Delta jetliner missed the United passenger jet by less than 100 feet.
Fort Lauderdale International is not currently equipped with either a ground-safety system such as an Airport Movement Area Safety System or Airport Surveillance Detection Equipment. The United crew stated that they missed the turn onto Taxiway B. The FAA has classified this incident as a pilot deviation.
Kim Cardosi, a human factors researcher with the DOT’s Volpe Center, recently discussed her research on runway incursions, which showed that “the real risk to airlines wasn’t landovers, but airplanes crossing in front of other airplanes taking off.” She added that the most common pilot error that results in a runway incursion is reading back a “hold short” clearance correctly, but then crossing the hold-short line (but not the runway edge). Based on ASRS reports, the most common factor in these events, she said, is one pilot head-down, programming the FMS or running checklists.
Cardosi urged pilots to use their landing lights as a signal when taking off or crossing a runway, as described in FAA Advisory Circular 120-74A–i.e., turn all lights on except for the landing lights when taking the runway, and turn on the landing lights as a signal when starting takeoff roll or crossing a runway.
Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), says ASDE-X “which already provides enhanced runway safety measures, will provide controllers with information which may reduce departure delays off the airport, due to the departure transitions being displayed to the controller on the radar. “This is an example of using new technology to assist air traffic controllers working in control towers, by providing more information without increasing workload,” Forrey said.