FAA Recounts Actions on Runway Safety

After completing the analysis of ATC procedures pertaining to taxi clearances, the FAA found more explicit taxi instructions are needed. The findings came after the agency issued a Call to Action last August to reduce runway safety problems. It will issue preliminary results to stakeholders later this month...

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After completing the analysis of ATC procedures pertaining to taxi clearances, the FAA found more explicit taxi instructions are needed. The findings came after the agency issued a Call to Action last August to reduce runway safety problems. It will issue preliminary results to stakeholders later this month for a 30-day review and will initiate an analysis of Multiple Landing Clearances the week of November 5.
The National Transportation Safety Board wants individual clearances for aircraft on departure rather than issuing multiple clearances from gate to runway. In addition, with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, FAA is developing a new penalty-free safety incident reporting system for controllers in which they can voluntarily report their errors, similar to the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) now used by pilots, dispatchers, flight attendants and mechanics.
The FAA also announced several short-term actions including upgraded, brighter and clearer airport markings, analysis of airport surface safety, training for airport and air carrier personnel and improved safety reporting.
Led by Acting FAA Administrator Bobby Sturgell, more than 40 aviation leaders from airlines, airports, air traffic control and pilot unions, aerospace manufacturers, met during the last 60 days to develop an ambitious plan focused on solutions in: cockpit procedures, air traffic procedures, and technology.
Sturgell said the ‘07 numbers for runway incursions include drops in the most serious but an increase in the least serious incursions. “The serious incursions — the As and the Bs — were at 24, which is down from 31 the previous year,” he said. “That’s an all-time low. C-level incursions are down as well, from 75 to 49. While we continue to focus on the most serious events, we are not ignoring the D-level incursion, where there is no apparent safety problem. The rise in D-level incidents, are what I’d call a precursor event. There’s no chance of a collision, but these are the type of signals that we’ve got to study. We know this boost is partly attributed to increased awareness and better reporting. But, we also know there were read-backs that were letter perfect, but the pilot took the wrong action. That shows the importance of human factors.”
He reported the agency is seeing an upswing in recurrent training for people with access to movement areas. It is also seeing similar headway in the cockpit and with pilot simulation training. He added that FAA is sending out DVD presentations of “Runway Safety 101” to people whose jobs require them to move about on the airport surface.
The FAA plans to accelerate its ASDE-X deployment by a full year, accomplishing the task by 2010, which Sturgell said, would pay off in terms of situational awareness. The next steps, he said, include checking off the list of initiatives that have been developed with industry; and, in the longer term, a look at technology which he wants accelerated to mid- to long term.
Medium and large airports were tasked with accelerating new airport markings, originally required by next June. The FAA reported that 52 of the 75 airports have completed their assignments of painting new, brighter runway center lines while 19 are planning to complete their tasks by year’s end. Another four have pledged to complete the upgrades by the deadline.
In addition, 24 small airports have upgraded their markings with another 37 airports to complete the work within 74 days. Some121 airports plan to upgrade markings by June 2008, while another 25 airports plan to enhance markings in 2009. A final 22 have yet to develop plans for such improvements. This means 229 airports are at some stage in voluntarily adopting the enhanced markings. FAA expects that number to increase.
The FAA is taking steps to propose extending the enhanced taxiway centerline requirement to all certificated airport and plans to publish draft guidance for public comment by December 1.
The FAA has also completed a safety review of the 20 airports with the highest number of incidents based on runway incursion data and wrong runway departure data. The agency expects to expand the program beyond the initial 20 but, in the meantime, has developed short-, mid-, and long-term initiatives.
While all 569 certificated airports require initial and recurrent training for airport employees such as airport police and airport maintenance workers, the recent emphasis on runway incursions resulted in 296 airports now requiring recurrent training for non-airport employees such as fixed-base operators or airline mechanics. Additionally, 72 airports plan to adopt this requirement. To that end, FAA’s Office of Airport Safety and Standards is developing proposed guidance to make clear that all persons with access to the airfield must have training and that records of initial and recurrent training be maintained.
On the carrier side, 104 of 112 active air carriers have begun new pilot training with simulator scenarios that include complex taxiing instructions and distractions like trucks on the tarmac. Another five will meet the target by the end of 2007 with two more meeting the target next year. Some 101 carriers have met the target completing review of procedures for reducing crew distractions, while another eight will meet their review by the end of the year and three next year.