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IN THE U.S., RISK IS HIGH FOR 'CATASTROPHIC' RUNWAY CRASH



 
 
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Old December 6th, 2007, 04:47 AM posted to soc.culture.indian,alt.fan.jai-maharaj,rec.travel.misc,soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.british
Dr. Jai Maharaj[_2_]
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Default IN THE U.S., RISK IS HIGH FOR 'CATASTROPHIC' RUNWAY CRASH

Risk is high for 'catastrophic' runway crash, report warns

Story Highlights

o NEW: FAA says serious runway incidents have decreased
by 25 percent

o Congressional investigators report no single office
addressing runway safety issue

o Number of dangerous runway incidents spiked in FY 2007,
GAO report says

o Report also cites traffic controllers' fatigue, routine
six-day work weeks

CNN
Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Washington (AP) - Air travelers face a high risk of a
catastrophic collision on a U.S. airport runway,
congressional investigators concluded Wednesday.


Jets line up to take off at Los Angeles International
Airport.

They cited faltering federal leadership, malfunctioning
technology and overworked traffic controllers as reasons
for the danger.

The investigators gave the Federal Aviation Administration
credit for reducing runway safety incidents from a peak in
2001 but said "FAA's runway safety efforts subsequently
waned" as the number of incidents settled at a lower level.

Then in fiscal 2007, which ended September 30, the
incidents spiked to 370, or 6.05 runway incursions per 1
million air traffic control operations, almost returning to
2001's 407 incursions and 6.1 rate. An incursion is any
aircraft, vehicle or person that goes where it shouldn't be
in space reserved for takeoff or landing.

At this time, "no single office is taking charge of
assessing the causes of runway safety problems and taking
the steps needed to address those problems," the Government
Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, said in
a report requested by Rep. Jerry F. Costello, D-Illinois,
and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-New Jersey.

Then-Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey stepped
into that leadership void in August by calling an
industrywide brainstorming conference to produce ideas for
quick action.

In October, the FAA reported progress on steps recommended
by the August conclave, particularly in speeding improved
runway markings and pilot training. The GAO report approved
of those moves but also recommended more leadership from
the FAA, improved data collection and a reduction in
overtime required of traffic controllers.

"This report makes clear that the Bush administration is
cutting corners and failing to put passenger safety first,"
Lautenberg said. "The FAA is taking too many chances and
ignoring too many red flags."

Even though serious incursions, where a collision was
narrowly averted, declined to a record low 24 in 2007 from
31 the year before, the report said they have remained high
enough to pose "a high risk of a catastrophic runway
collision."

In response to the report, the FAA said it had reached its
goal of reducing the most serious incursions by almost 25
percent in 2007. The agency said the overtime was a short-
term issue that could be resolved through stepped-up
hiring.

Hiring is focusing on two dozen facilities with high
overtime or six-day work weeks, according to the FAA, and a
working group is studying whether scheduling changes could
minimize fatigue.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said runway safety is a
priority and the agency "is safely staffing all of its air
traffic facilities."

Costello, who chairs the House aviation subcommittee, said,
"When there is great public attention and attention by the
Congress, then the FAA acts. As soon as the attention goes
away, the FAA reduces their attention."

He and Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minnesota, the full committee
chairman, urged quick approval of a House-passed FAA bill
that would provide $42 million for incursion reduction and
$72 million for runway lighting; require an FAA runway
safety and technology plan; and force the FAA to reopen
contract negotiations with controllers. The Bush
administration opposes that provision.

Since 1990, 63 people have died in six U.S. runway
collisions. And the FAA's previous definition didn't
classify some serious runway errors as incursions,
including an August 27, 2006, crash in Lexington, Kentucky,
of a Comair jet that took off from a too-short runway,
killing 49.

This year has seen dramatic near-collisions. On August 16,
two commercial jets carrying 296 people came within 37 feet
of colliding at Los Angeles International. A Delta Boeing
757 touched down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on July 11
and had to take off again immediately to avoid hitting a
United Airbus A320 mistakenly on its runway. A Delta Boeing
737 landing at New York's LaGuardia airport on July 5
narrowly missed a commuter jet that was mistakenly cleared
to cross its runway.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating
those incidents as well as two others in Denver, Colorado,
and one in San Francisco, California. Watch NTSB animation
of two near-collisions on runways »

The GAO seconded the transportation safety board's April
recommendation that the FAA reduce mandatory overtime for
controllers. Since the FAA imposed a contract on the
controllers union in 2006, experienced controllers have
retired much faster than the agency predicted. The FAA also
cut controller staff to respond to traffic pattern changes
from airline mergers and bankruptcies. The union says the
cuts are too deep and reduce safety; the FAA says air
travel has never been safer.

The GAO said 52 percent of controllers at the nation's
busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International,
regularly work six-day weeks. Overall, between 20 percent
and 52 percent of controllers at 25 FAA facilities,
including seven of the 50 busiest towers, are on six-day
weeks.

Nevertheless, "agency officials indicated that they had no
plan to mitigate the effects of air traffic controller
fatigue," the GAO said.

Citing the safety board and GAO concerns about fatigue,
National Air Traffic Controllers Association president
Patrick Forrey asked, "How much more do we have to hear
before the FAA is held accountable for the blatant
disregard for safety it is showing by understaffing its
facilities, working controllers past their breaking points
and refusing to work with us to settle an ongoing contract
negotiating impasse that has created the largest mass
exodus of both veteran controllers and trainees we have
seen since 1981?"

The GAO found that radar the FAA installed at 34 of the
busiest airports to monitor aircraft on the ground doesn't
work well when needed most -- during heavy rain or snow.

FAA's more advanced ground-control radar, operational at
only eight airports, issues false alerts of impending
collisions -- 41 from June 7, 2006, to May 16, 2007, at
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.

FAA's Office of Runway Safety hasn't produced a national
runway safety plan since 2002, went two years without a
permanent director and had a 45 percent staff cut over the
past four years, the GAO found.

Arguing for more and better data, the GAO urged the FAA to
finish a three-year-old effort to set up a no-fault system
for controllers to report safety problems. Industry experts
told the investigators FAA definitions were so subjective
that they knew of incidents FAA classified "as being less
severe than they actually were."

Finally, the GAO urged the FAA to take over more
responsibility from airports and airlines for safety in
ramp areas, where planes park next to gates and 29 people
have died between 2001 and 2006.

Don't Miss
NTSB: Near-collision videos show runway dangers

More at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/12/05....ap/index.html

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