"Taxiway improvements keep Florida airport off bad runway list"

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Taxiway improvements keep airport off bad runway list 
By CINDY F. CRAWFORD 
The Daytona Beach (FL) News-Journal

 
DAYTONA BEACH -- Four years ago, Daytona Beach International Airport landed
on a Top 20 list for airports logging the most runway mistakes in the
country.

The airport even beat out commercial giant New York La Guardia for what
pilots call "runway incursions," or incidents when a plane, vehicle,
pedestrian or object crosses the runway without permission.

None of the incursions in Daytona Beach caused collisions. And Federal
Aviation Administration and airport officials wanted to make sure it stayed
that way.

Their solution: Build two new taxiways for $9 million that would redirect
plane traffic and eliminate the need for crossings.

Since the taxiways opened in 2002 and 2003, airport officials have reported
fewer mistakes -- only four since 2002, down from the 11 the airport
experienced between 1999 to 2001.

And the Daytona Beach International Airport hasn't made the Top 20 list
since.

"The taxiways gave us more surface area to deal with planes on the ground
and have solved the problem," said Steve Cooke, the airport's director of
air service marketing.

The FAA paid for 90 percent of the taxiways project through funds collected
from taxes on commercial flight tickets, spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.
The Volusia County Council, which oversees the airport, approved using the
final allotment of federal funds for construction of the taxiways last week.

Airport officials attribute many of the mistakes to inexperienced pilots
learning to fly through one of six training schools using the runways, the
largest being Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Daytona Beach has only 13 commercial flights, but still ranks as the 31st
busiest airport in the country with 337,000 takeoffs and landings recorded
last year, Cooke said.

Incursions are rare, said pilot and Embry-Riddle instructor Richard Theosak,
who likens them to running a red light at a major intersection. In his 30
years of flying, he has never seen one happen.

But students make mistakes as they're learning, and instructors can try to
prevent them by drilling safety into lessons, he said.

"Flying carries risks and we teach them how to manage those risks," Theosak
said. "It's ultimately up to the pilot to follow the rules."

Before the two new taxiways, the airport had only four on the north side of
the runways, which required many planes to cross the runway three or four
times before getting into position, said Garth Saalfield, project manager
for the airport.

The new taxiways were placed on the south side of the runways to provide an
alternate waiting spot. So far, it has cut crossings by 25 percent, said
Barbara Snell, operations manager of the airport's control tower.

"This gives a better traffic flow," Snell said. "Taxiing time has been
reduced and some don't have to cross the runway at all."

The new taxiways have worked so well officials are adding an $8 million
service road that would loop 10 miles around the runways and taxiways. It
will provide firefighters and maintenance employees access to buildings
tucked between the takeoff and landing road without crossing the runways,
Saalfield said.

The airport has received $2.7 million from the FAA for the first phase and
funds from the state Department of Transportation and the airport's capital
improvement fund, which includes roughly $3 taxes charged to each ticket,
Cooke said.

Did You Know?

This list of aviation accidents provides a grim reminder of what can happen
when runway incursions result in collisions:

March 27, 1977: The world's worst aviation disaster occurred when two Boeing
747s -- one, a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jet, the other, Pan American --
collided on the runway at an airport on Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands;
582 people were killed.

Feb. 1, 1991: A USAir 737 landed on a Los Angeles runway, colliding with a
parked Skywest Airlines prop plane that was awaiting permission to take off;
34 people died.

Oct. 31, 2000: Taipei, Taiwan: A Singapore Airlines 747 crashed into a
concrete barrier on the runway, killing 81 people.

Oct. 8, 2001: In Milan, Italy, 118 people were killed when an SAS jetliner
collided with a business jet that mistakenly entered the runway.


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