U.S.

May 5: Runway Dangers Decrease

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 5, 2000 / 3:31 PM EDT / CBS

Runways are getting safer. There were fewer incidents of airplanes or other vehicles coming into contact with each other on the ground last year than the year before. The number had climbed for the previous five years.

The Federal Aviation Administration recorded 322 incursions in 1999, just three less than the year before. An incursion is an incident involving a collision hazard at an airport, but not involving an actual crash. Eighty incursions were attributed to air traffic control errors and 60 to vehicles or pedestrians on runways.

With 10 incursions, Los Angeles International had the highest total. But it ranked 21st in the country in incidents per 100,000 operations, with a rate of 1.285.

The highest rate of incursions was recorded by the Springfield, Illinois, airport at 4.799, though it had just four incidents.

The airports with higher rates tended to be ones with more flights by private pilots, rather than busy commercial airports.

Last month FAA Administrator Jane Garvey launched a new effort to reduce the number of incursions. She announced a series of regional meetings across the country where airlines, airport officials, commercial and private pilots and air traffic controllers could meet to discuss ways to reduce these incidents.

A one-year effort was begun to get pilots who have been involved in incursions to meet with FAA safety inspectors to discuss their cases.

Currently, many large airports use downward-looking radar called ASDE to keep track of the movement of planes and other vehicles on and around their runways.

A new system called Airport Movement Area Safety System, or AMASS, is scheduled to go into operation this year. It will sound a warning alarm if vehicles and/or aircraft appear to be on a collision course. AMASS will begin service in San Francisco in September and be in the nation's 34 largest airports by the fall of 2002.