"D/FW Airport officials plan redesign of runways to stem close calls"

Sunday, August 15, 2004
 
D/FW Airport officials plan redesign to stem close calls
They want to reduce the chance of rare runway collisions occurring
By MICHAEL GRABELL
The Dallas (TX) Morning News


Passengers often don't even notice the close calls. 

An MD-80 jet is cleared for takeoff when a smaller, regional plane
crosses its path less than a mile down the runway. The smaller jet,
which has just landed, is using the wrong taxiway on the way to the
gate. Dozens of lives could be at stake, but the pilot of the bigger
plane aborts his takeoff. 

D/FW, the nation's third-busiest airport, had six of these so-called
"runway incursions" last year, according to data from the Federal
Aviation Administration. An incursion is any event that creates a
collision hazard for an aircraft or results in two planes coming too
close together while taking off or landing. 

While such incidents are relatively rare at D/FW and at all airports -
about one in 192,000 takeoffs and landings nationally - each one has the
potential to become a deadly collision if the pilots and air traffic
controllers don't notice them and act quickly enough. 

To reduce hazards, D/FW is exploring a plan to redesign the airport's
runways so that planes landing during peak times could avoid crossing
any runways while taxiing to their gates. 

The airport's figures for fiscal year 2003 were comparable to those of
other major airports and very rare when considering that each has
hundreds of thousands of runway crossings a year, said Paul Erway,
runway safety program manager for the FAA's southwest region. 
 
"It's like the difference between being struck by lightning or being
eaten by a bear," he said. "We're talking about extremely rare events. I
don't want people to worry every time they get into an aircraft. And
we're going to make them even more rare." 

The nation's busiest airport, Chicago's O'Hare International, had seven
incursions, while the second-busiest, Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson
International Airport, had six. George Bush Intercontinental Airport in
Houston had none. 

Of the 75 U.S. airports that the FAA studied over the last four years,
D/FW was 11th in runway incursions. Dallas Love Field was not included
in the report. 

"A lot of it depends on the design of the airport," said Allen Parra,
D/FW's vice president for airport operations. "It's the layout of the
runways and taxiways." 

D/FW went 16 months without an incursion in 2001 and 2002. At the time,
officials credited runway safety meetings, a map of dangerous hot spots
and safety training for airline mechanics. 

Since then, the airport began placing bumper stickers that read "I Brake
for Runways" on the back of construction vehicles and fire trucks. 

Officials are also in the early stages of a plan to build "perimeter
taxiways" around the runways. The reconfiguration is expected to cut
radio traffic between pilots and controllers, the number of incursions
and the time that passengers must sit on planes while taxiing to their
gate. 

"Virtually, it would eliminate runway crossings during peak periods,"
Mr. Parra said. 

Last year, the airport completed a video simulation of how the perimeter
taxiways would work, and it's now undergoing an initial design phase to
determine how much construction might cost. 

Construction could begin as early as the end of 2007, Mr. Parra said. 

The rate of runway incursions has fallen nationwide since 2000 but has
remained steady for the last three years, according to the FAA. 

At D/FW, which has about 810,000 takeoffs and landings a year, the rate
is one in 135,000. The six incidents in fiscal year 2003 were all
resolved before any collision could occur and early enough to prevent
those involved from having to make drastic moves to avoid crashing. 

Three of the incursions were attributed to air traffic controller
errors, two to pilot errors and one to a vehicle entering a runway
without authorization. 

"It appears to be a human error problem by either pilots or controllers
or people driving on the runways," Mr. Erway said. "In general, the
errors that are made in the runway incursion business are a breakdown in
communication or a loss in situational awareness." 

HOW DALLAS COMPARES
 
How the number of runway incursions at D/FW stacked up against other
airports in 2003: 

Los Angeles - 9 

Chicago O'Hare - 7 

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson - 6 

Dallas/Fort Worth - 6 

San Antonio - 4 

Newark Liberty - 3 

Washington Dulles - 3 

New York JFK - 2 

New York LaGuardia - 2 

Boston Logan - 2 

Denver - 1 

Houston George Bush - 0 

NOTE: Comparisons between airports must take into account that each one
is configured differently and has a different number of runway
crossings.


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