"Close calls: Runway incursions still a serious problem"

Wednesday, May 22, 2002 

Editorial
Close calls
Runway incursions still a serious problem
The San Diego (CA) Union Tribune


'We're afraid the next major accident will be on the ground, not in the
air, in aviation." So said Marion Blakey, chairman of the National
Transportation Safety Board.

The board voted unanimously last week that runway "incursions" -
"near-collisions" - should remain on its annual list of most-wanted
safety improvements.

The NTSB began releasing the list in 1990 as a way to persuade federal
agencies, primarily the Federal Aviation Administration, to follow its
suggestions.

But the NTSB has not been terribly successful as far as runway
near-collisions are concerned. In fact, runway incursions have more than
doubled since 1993. And hardly any airport has been more affected than
San Diego's Montgomery Field. A report last year by the U.S. Department
of Transportation's inspector general revealed there were 20
near-collisions at Montgomery Field from 1997 to 2000, the
eighth-highest total of any airport in the country.

The FAA reported earlier this year that the number of runway incursions
nationwide dropped last year, reversing a 10-year trend. However, the
dip - to 381 near-collisions last year, from 431 in 2000 - very well
could be attributable to the steep decline in air traffic following the
September terror attacks.

As the NTSB points out, the 381 runway incursions last year are far too
many. It means that an airplane, vehicle or person mistakenly turned
onto an airport runway an average of more than once a day. And all it
takes is one runway collision to cause serious loss of life. The
deadliest airplane accident in history occurred 25 years ago when two
passenger-laden 747 jets crashed into each other on an airport runway in
the Canary Islands. No fewer than 583 lives were lost.

More recently, 83 people were killed in an October 2000 runway crash of
a Singapore Airlines jet at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek international
airport. The plane exploded in a fireball after colliding with
construction equipment parked on a runway adjacent to the one pilots
should have used. In October of last year, 118 people were killed in
Milan, Italy, after an SAS airliner collided with a business jet that
entered the runway as the larger plane was taking off.

Of course, such mass carnage will not happen at Montgomery Field, which
serves small aircraft. But even a single death from a preventable runway
collision is one too many.

In fact, the FAA is deploying an automated system at 34 airports around
the country to warn air traffic controllers of possible runway
collisions. Unfortunately, related technology that would help smaller
airports prevent runway incursions won't be fully deployed until 2007.

Five years is too long to wait for a system that would improve the
safety of air passengers at smaller airports. It shouldn't take a runway
tragedy for the FAA to shorten its time line.


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