Eurocontrol Runway Safety Conference

1
U.S. Runway Safety Briefing

• Eurocontrol Runway Safety Conference
• Bill Davis, ARI-1
• September 2002

2
Overview

• Current Situation
• Runway Safety Goals

Outcome Zero fatalities from runway incursions
3
Leadership Alignment
Projects are most successful when top management
takes ownership -Deming
4
Runway Safety Dilemmas

• Systemic, Rare, Potentially Catastrophic Events
• Social, Political and Economic Aspects to Runway
  Incursion Consequences and Solutions
• Human Factors - Intrinsic and Pervasive
• Commercial and GA Incursions - Proportionate to
  Operations
• Airport Design, Procedures, Local Factors
  Significant
• Solution includes Cultural Change, Joint and
  Individual Ownership of Solutions

5
Global Airspace is complicated
Growing demand for air travel and system capacity
Millions of operations a year
Hundreds of thousands of pilots and aircraft
Thousands of air traffic controllers
Thousands of airports
Pressure to reduce delays and to enhance safety
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Runway Incursions (All Categories)
DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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Types of Runway Incursions

• A runway incursion is any occurrence on an
  airport runway involving an aircraft, vehicle,
  person, or object on the ground that creates a
  collision hazard or results in a loss of required
  separation with an aircraft taking off, landing,
  or intending to land.
• The FAA investigates runway incursions and
  attributes the occurrence to one or more of the
  following error types.

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Type Distribution of Runway Incursions
DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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Runway Incursion Severity
Operational dimensions affecting runway incursion
severity
Increasing Severity
Increasing Severity
Category D
Category C
Category B
Category D
Category C
Category B
Category A
Separation decreases and participants take
extreme action to narrowly avoid a collision, or
the event results in a collision
Separation decreases and there is a significant
potential for collision
Separation decreases but there is ample time and
distance to avoid a collision
Little or no chance of collision but meets the
definition of a runway incursion
Little or no
Separation
Separation
Separation
chance of
decreases but
decreases and
decreases and
collision but
there is ample
there is a
participants take
meets the
time and
significant
extreme action
definition of a
distance to avoid
potential for
to narrowly
runway incursion
a collision
collision
avoid a collision
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Severity Distribution of Runway Incursions
DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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Category AB Runway Incursions
DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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Number of Reported Runway Incursions by Severity
(CY 1998 2001)

• The distribution of runway incursion severity
  categories from 1998 to 2001 indicates that the
  majority (83) of the incidents was comprised of
  Category C D events.

• There were 48 fewer reported runway incursions in
  2001 than in 2000.

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Runway Incursions at the Civilian and Joint Use
Towered Airports for CY 1998 - 2001
Percent of Total Number of FAA Towered Airports
No. of Runway Incursions
No. of FAA Towered Airports that had Runway
Incursions
Of the 488 towered airports in the United States,
84 airports reported more than five runway
incursions for CY 1998 through 2001.
36
0
178
46
1 5
226
10
6 10
50
11 20
23
5
80-20 Rule
21 30
8
2
31 45
3
1
Total Number of FAA Towered Airports 488
as of 22nd May, 2002
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Frequency and Rate of Runway Incursions (CY 1998
- 2001)
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Airport complexity influences the number and rate
of runway incursions (FY 1998 - 2001)
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Severity Distribution at the 32 Benchmark
Airports (CY 1998 2001)

• The Benchmark Airports accounted for
• 18 of all operations (approx. 61 Million out of
  332 Million) at towered airports over the 4 year
  period
• 26 (383) of all the runway incursions in the 4
  year period studied

• The Benchmark Airports accounted for
• 38 (38/87) A events,
• 36 (59/163) B events,
• 35 (178/509) C events,
• 16 (113/694) D events

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Category A and B Runway Incursions (CY 2000 and
2001)
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Runway Collisions Met. Conditions (1990 - 2001)
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Runway Incursion Comparison
CY 2000 / CY 2001
(2001 Data are Preliminary)
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Technologies

• ARI sponsoring technologies with Industry-wide
  potential
• AMASS
• 18 Commissioned
• 6 Operational Suitability Demo
• 13 Remaining
• LED lighting
• Enhances hold position markings at runway/taxiway
  intersection
• Omaha system activation July 2002

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Primary Performance Factors of Runway Incursions
(1997-2001)

• Pilot Deviations
• Enters or crosses a runway after acknowledging
  hold short instructions
• Takes off without a clearance after acknowledging
  position and hold instructions
• Operational Errors
• Loss of arrival/departure separation on same or
  intersecting runways
• Runway crossing separation errors
• Vehicle/Pedestrian Deviations
• Crosses a runway without communication or
  authorization
• Enters a runway after acknowledging hold short
  instructions

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Runway Safety Blueprint

• 8 Goals
• 39 Objectives
• Education and Training
• Safety Seminars
• Surface Safety Awareness
• Mass Mailings
• Procedures
• Modeling and Simulation
• Advisory Circulars
• Data Collection
• Surface Incidents
• ASRS

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Runway Safety Blueprint (contd)

• 8 Goals
• 39 Objectives
• Communications
• Phraseology Workgroup
• Situational Awareness
• Paint Study
• Technology
• Flashing PAPI
• Runway Status Lights (AMASS, ASDE-X)
• Moving Map
• Local Solutions
• Special Emphasis Program

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Human Factors in Surface Operations

• Kim Cardosi, Ph.D.
• Volpe Center
• DOT/Research and Special Programs Administration
• Cardosi_at_volpe.dot.gov

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This we know is true

• People make mistakes even the most intelligent,
  well-trained, conscientious, and well-intentioned
  people make mistakes
• Poorly-trained, complacent, or malevolent people
  cause even more problems.
• We need to ensure that the entire system (people,
  equipment, procedures) is designed to help
  prevent human error and capture the inevitable
  errors before they result in a collision.

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Approach

• Analyze the incident data to determine areas of
  greatest risks
• What are the types and relative frequencies of
  different types of error?
• Identify mitigation strategies for managing human
  error
• Procedures
• Technologies

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Where do we go wrong?

• Controllers
• Forget (about a closed runway, a clearance that
  they issued, an aircraft waiting to takeoff or
  cleared to land)
• Get distracted
• Fail to coordinate (teamwork)
• Dont catch all readback errors
• Act human

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Where do we go wrong?

• Pilots
• Fail to hold short as instructed (and cross or
  line up on the runway)
• Takeoff without a clearance
• Get lost (with and without poor visibility)
• Misunderstand the clearance
• Act human

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Resulting in

• Aircraft/vehicles crossing in front of an
  aircraft taking off
• Aircraft/vehicles crossing in front of an
  aircraft landing
• Controllers forgetting about aircraft holding in
  position and clearing an aircraft to land on the
  same runway
• Other scenarios

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How do we fix it?

• Better tools for pilots and controller
• Better airport signs and markings
• Surface radar at more airports
• Improved means of controller-pilot communication
  (to reduce frequency congestion and eliminate
  blocked transmissions)
• Runway status lights
• loops
• Cockpit moving map displays

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What Controllers Can Do

• Optimize teamwork.
• Recognize limitations of human memory and
  attention.
• Dont clear an aircraft into position and hold
  if you plan on it being there for more than a
  minute.
• Never assume keep up your scan and check that
  the runway is clear.
• Good communication techniques.

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What Pilots Can Do

• DONT mind your own business do whatever you
  can to increase your awareness of the airport
  operation.
• LISTEN UP
• LOOK OUT
• Airport diagram out and in use.
• Is there a runway between you and the gate?
• Is there an aircraft on final?

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What Pilots Can Do

• Both pilots should listen for clearances to land,
  taxi, and take-off.
• When in doubt, about your position or your
  clearance - ASK.
• SOPs and Recommended Practices
• Landing lights go on when take-off clearance is
  received (signal that aircraft is rolling)
• Call ATC if you expected an imminent take-off
  and have been lined up and waiting for more than
  90 seconds.

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Summary

• Runway Safety is a multi-dimensional problem that
  requires a multi-dimensional approach.
• There are things pilots and controllers today to
  reduce the probability of a collision on the
  runway.
• For more information, see Runway Safety Its
  Everybodys Business
• Cardosi_at_volpe.dot.gov