CAA: GA News, "Seminars to focus on runway incursions"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@cwnet.com>]

Friday, April 28, 2000

Seminars to focus on runway incursions
GA News


KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The FAA is seeking ideas from pilots to help improve
runway safety and reduce the number of incidents and incursions.

ilots, airport managers, airport operations supervisors, air traffic
controllers, airport safety inspectors and maintenance workers are invited
to attend a series of workshops that will be held in each of the FAA regions
during May and June.

The first two workshops will be held at the National Weather Service
Training Center in Kansas City. Sessions are scheduled for 1-5 p.m. May 4
and 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. May 5. There is no charge to attend, but you
must register by calling Gordon Evans at 816-329-2421.

The FAA defines a runway incursion as “Any occurrence at an airport
involving an aircraft, vehicle, person or object on the ground that creates
a collision hazard or results in loss of separation with an aircraft taking
off, intending to take off, landing, or intending to land.”

The number of runway incursions has nearly doubled in recent years, from 186
in 1988 to 325 in 1998. Preliminary figures for 1999 listed 322 incidents.
In response, the FAA issued an Airport Surface Operations Safety Action Plan
in 1998 “to prevent runway incursions and improve operations.”

The system-wide plan addresses management and procedural changes;
improvements in airport navigation aids, signs, and surface markings;
technology-based efforts; and increased incursion awareness efforts. Its
stated goal is a significant reduction in the number of runway incursions in
2000.

The Kansas City Airport Safety Workshop is one of nearly a dozen regional
forums on runway safety. Information and ideas that are gathered will be
presented at a National Runway Safety Summit in Washington, D.C. in June.

Most serious runway incursions (those likely to cause accidents) occur at
complex, high-volume airports. General aviation pilots account for a
disproportionately large percentage of incidents. Reasons include
misunderstood controller instructions, confusion, disorientation and
inattention.

Very few runway incursions result in accidents but, says the FAA “the lapses
of discipline or procedure that create these errors point to a potentially
serious problem.”

The regional runway-safety workshops and the upcoming runway-safety summit
are part of the FAA’s effort to involve all the players in solving that
problem.

To register for the free Runway Safety Program Workshop in Kansas City, call
Gordon Evans at 816-329-2421. For more information on runway incursions and
the FAA’s Runway Safety Program, visit www.faa.gov/ats/ato/ato102.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

May 4-5: FAA Midwest Region, Kansas City, Missouri; contact Gordon Evans,
816-329-2421.

May 16-17: New England Region, Boston; Harry West, 781-238-7533.

May 17-18: Southwest Region, Fort Worth; James (Jim) R. McElvain,
817-222-5259/5000.

May 19: Alaskan Region, Anchorage; Bob Lewis, (907) 271-5649

May 23: Eastern Region, New York; Margo Arroyo, 718-553-3370, or Joan Brown,
718-553-3371.

May 24-25: Great Lakes Region, Des Plaines; Carl Ball, 847-294-7111, or
Sandy Libby, 847-294-7294.

May 31- June 1: Southern Region, Atlanta; Tom Denny, 404-305-5576, or Anna
Cohen, 404-305-6714.

June 14-16: National runway-safety summit, Washington, DC; Arthur Humphries,
202-267-3487.


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