FAA Announces Runway Safety Improvements

[CaptJax]

FAA Announces Runway Safety Improvements

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Federal Aviation Administration announced measures Monday to improve runway safety, including the installation at major airports of lights that signal pilots when a runway is safe to enter.

The announcement by Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell comes amid criticism of FAA officials by federal lawmakers and others over an alarming rate of runway incursions at airports.

"Severe runway incursions are down," Sturgell said in remarks prepared for delivery at a morning press conference. "And, we're putting technology and procedures in place to keep it that way. We're making changes on the runway and in the cockpit that are going to make a significant difference."

Sturgell was also expected to face questions about two near-collisions in less than a week at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The near-collision on Friday - involving a Delta Air Lines and a Comair flight - prompted the agency to immediately change the way takeoffs and landings are sequenced on perpendicular runways.

In December, congressional investigators warned that air travelers face a high risk of a catastrophic collision on U.S. airport runways because of faltering federal leadership, malfunctioning technology and overworked air traffic controllers.

Since 1990, 63 people have died in six U.S. runway collisions. Monday's announcement was aimed at reducing runway incursions, defined as an event in which any aircraft, vehicle or person intrudes in space reserved for takeoff or landing.

The FAA's previous definition of "runway incursion" did not did not include serious runway errors such as the one that led to the Aug. 27, 2006, crash of a Comair jet in Lexington, Ky. The pilots mistakenly traveled down a runway too short for takeoff and the aircraft crashed, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard.

The runway safety system announced Monday involves lighting systems to be installed at 21 airports over the next three years. The lights change color to signal when a runway is safe to enter or cross, according to a description posted on the FAA's Web site.

Airports selected for the program are Atlanta, Baltimore-Washington, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston Intercontinental, John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle and Washington-Dulles.

 

[luckytohaveajob]

Safety lighting improvements!

In EWR how about those blue reflectors instead of blue lights being replaced?

Statements declaring the FAA is in action are a joke.

 

[CaptJax]

FAA Re-Evaluates JFK Runway Procedures

FAA re-evaluates JFK runway procedures


By NATASHA T. METZLER, Associated Press Writer
Monday, July 14, 2008


(07-14) 11:33 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The Federal Aviation Administration is studying whether to again change takeoff and landing procedures at John F. Kennedy International Airport after a second near-collision of aircraft in less than a week.
At a news conference Monday, acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell said a change ordered on Friday for the New York airport might not be permanent.
"Given that we had two in this short a time frame, we're going to take a look at the procedure, we're going to see if there are additional considerations we should add to the procedure, and in the meantime the airport will be using a different configuration," Sturgell said.
The FAA directed a change in the way takeoffs and landings are sequenced on perpendicular runways after two passenger airliners — one taking off, one landing — came within a half-mile of each other. Six days earlier, a similar incident occurred.
Sturgell said a preliminary investigation found that both incidents were due to communication problems.
The landing and takeoff procedures put in place Friday at JFK are designed to allow an aircraft taking off from one runway to get clear of the path of the other, intersecting runway before the second flight attempts to land. The procedure is normally used by the airport during the winter months.
Sturgell said that a preliminary study found that both incidents were due to communication problems with the aircrafts' pilots. He said that the incidents were not caused by understaffing or lack of experience of air traffic controllers.
On Friday, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 was arriving at the airport when the pilot decided to abort his landing and execute a "go-around" — a routine procedure often used during heavy congestion. That caused the Delta flight to intersect with the flight path of Comair Bombardier CRJ9 that was taking off on another runway. The two aircraft came within 600 feet of each other vertically and a half-mile horizontally, the FAA said.
On July 5, a Cayman Airways flight was landing at JFK when the pilot decided to abort the landing as a LAN Chile jet was taking off. Their flight paths crossed, bringing the planes within about 200 feet of each other vertically and a half-mile horizontally.
In both instances, air traffic controllers intervened and directed the pilots to take flight paths away from the other aircraft.
"In this case, particularly the most recent one, the air traffic controller did a great job, precisely what they were supposed to do," Sturgell said.
The comments from Sturgell came during his announcement of measures to improve runway safety for taxiing aircraft, including the installation at major airports of lights that signal pilots when a runway is safe to enter.
The FAA has drawn criticism from federal lawmakers and others over an alarming rate of runway incursions — which defined as an event in which any aircraft, vehicle or person intrudes in space reserved for takeoff or landing.
Sturgell noted that over the past year there were 24 serious runway incursions, an all-time low. So far this year, there have been 19, four involving commercial aircraft, which he said is on track with the previous year. Sturgell said the recent JFK incidents were not runway incursions.
"So we continue to see good results," Sturgell said. "But I do think we can do better and we are. The steps we're announcing today, I think will help us get there."
Since 1990, 63 people have died in six U.S. runway collisions.
The runway safety system announced Monday involves lighting systems to be installed at 19 more airports over the next three years. The lights change color to signal when a runway is safe to enter or cross.
The system of warning lights has been tested at the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Diego airports. Similar systems will be installed at airports in Atlanta, Baltimore-Washington, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago-O'Hare, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston Intercontinental, John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington-Dulles.
(This version CORRECTS UPDATES throughout with material from news conference; corrects that Dallas-Fort Worth and San Diego airports have been testing signal light system.)

 

[CaptJax]

Aiming To Make Runways Safer

FAA studying technology to make runways safer


By JEFFREY McMURRAY, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, August 7, 2008


(08-07) 12:05 PDT Louisville, Ky. (AP) --
It's a bird. It's a plane. And, when both occupy a runway at the same time, it's a problem.
Small objects, including animals such as squirrels and birds, can wreak havoc on an aircraft traveling down a runway at speeds topping 100 mph. To combat the problem, four companies have developed competing technology to detect these so-called "invisible" runway incursions. The companies made their pitches Thursday to airport executives and a top federal air safety official on why their approach is best.
While its difficult for small objects to do any serious structural damage to a plane's exterior, even the tiniest items can be catastrophic if sucked into a spinning engine blade during takeoff, said James Patterson, an airport safety specialist at the Federal Aviation Administration who is involved in testing and approving the detection systems.
At most airports, the methods for finding foreign object debris, or FOD as industry officials call it, isn't sophisticated, usually relying only on occasional visual scans with the naked eye. Some airports only check once a day, Patterson said.
The 2000 crash of a Concorde jet in France that killed 113 people is the most sobering recent example of the dangers of foreign object debris.
French investigators determined that crash was caused in part by a titanium strip from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that was lying on the runway when the supersonic jet took off. They said the metal strip punctured a tire on the plane, which created flying debris that then punctured the fuel tanks.
"Anybody who works in the aviation environment knows about FOD, knows it's a risk, and Concorde is the ultimate manifestation of that risk," said Dominic Walker, a product development director at QinetiQ Airport Technologies, one of the companies that has built a debris tracking system.
QinetiQ's system largely relies on radar from a tower above the airport. It constantly monitors the runway for foreign objects, and can immediately pass on a warning to airport personnel. During a yearlong test of the technology at Vancouver International Airport, the company found and removed 326 pieces of debris, Walker said.
Other companies have their own version of how to deal with the problem and made presentations to potential buyers at the American Association of Airport Executives' NextGen Airport Conference and Expo.
Stratech Systems Ltd. relies on infrared high-resolution cameras. Xsight Systems said it can save the airports money by mounting the detectors on pre-existing runway lights. And Trex Enterprises features a mobile unit on the back of a truck that picks up the debris after it finds it.
"There are many roads to Rome here," said Grant Bishop, manager of Trex Enterprises' FOD Finder system.
Patterson said the FAA has been testing the detection systems and hopes to approve some of them soon. Once that happens, airports would be able to apply for federal grants to help buy them.

 

[say again]

Sweet, more lights. My favorite are the bright-as-hell, yellow hold short lights at TEB rwy 1. Sunglasses don't even help.

 

[CaptJax]

SFO To Test System That Checks Runway Traffic

SFO to test system that checks runway traffic

Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, October 30, 2008

10-29) 20:13 PDT -- San Francisco International Airport, which is on a federal list of risky airports for near-collisions on runways or incidents in which pilots get confused when they're taxiing, will participate in an experimental safety program that uses high-tech gadgetry on the airfield and in cockpits.

The Federal Aviation Administration picked SFO as one of 21 airports nationally for the pilot project, officials announced Wednesday.

Seven airlines, most of which operate at the San Francisco airport, will participate in the voluntary program.

The specially outfitted planes will be equipped with on-board, satellite-based tracking devices that will let pilots see exactly where they are on the airfield and the precise location of other aircraft and service vehicles.

The cockpit systems include moving map displays and audible alerts that will let pilots know when they are entering, crossing or departing a runway.

"This technology is on every pilot's wish list," said FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell. "It's going to be a big boost for runway safety."

Currently, pilots must rely on what they can see from the cockpit and information from air traffic controllers. Now, the control tower is equipped with radar that pinpoints the location of planes on the airfield and controllers must relay that information to pilots.

The new equipment "will add another layer of protection," said SFO spokesman Michael McCarron.

San Francisco International Airport was tapped as a test site because it is one of the nation's busiest commercial airports and has intersecting runways, said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

"The FAA believes that this technology could have prevented many of SFO's past runway incursions," meaning incidents that violate procedure and, in the worst case, could result in a collision between planes, Gregor said. It could be as minor as a plane rolling a few feet out of position while awaiting takeoff or having a service truck get too close to a plane on takeoff or landing.

There were four runway incursions at SFO in the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2007, including one considered serious. In that incident, on May 26, two passenger planes almost collided when an air traffic controller mistakenly cleared a jetliner for takeoff and a turboprop plane for landing on intersecting runways.

The airliners may have come within 50 feet of each other, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. No injuries were reported. After the close call, the air traffic controller was decertified, had to undergo additional training and eventually was recertified.

In part because of that incident, last year the FAA put San Francisco International Airport on a list of 20 risky airports due to runway incursions. Between 2000 and 2007, there were between two and five runway incursions each year reported at SFO. In the fiscal year that ended last month, there was a spike of 11 runway incursions, all considered minor with no potential for collisions, Gregor said.

He said new procedures were put in place to reduce the risk of airplanes crossing paths on certain runaways. For example, airplanes now taxi around the end of the runway instead of crossing the middle.

"These steps appear to have paid off. We have had zero runway incursions at SFO for the past two months, which is more typical of what we have seen historically," Gregor said.

The onboard tracking devices will start being installed in May. Each of the participating airlines will receive between $510,000 and $600,000. Not all planes in their fleets will be equipped - 16 to 20 aircraft from each carrier will be included.

Southwest Airlines, one of the participants, was already looking at the technology, but "this pilot program gives us an opportunity to go forward," said airline spokeswoman Marilee McInnis.

The added cost is not something financially struggling airlines could easily afford without federal aid, industry representatives said.

In addition to Southwest Airlines, the other carriers participating at SFO are US Airways, SkyWest Airlines, Piedmont Airlines and Atlas Air. In exchange for the federal funding, the airlines have agreed to provide the FAA with operational data and pilot observations to measure the effectiveness of the new technology.

SFO is the only airport in Northern California included in the test. On the West Coast, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport will participate. Among the others are Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport and JFK International Airport in New York.

E-mail Rachel Gordon at [email protected].