Runway safety system has gap

0 Comments | USA TODAY, April, 2007 | by Alan Levin

Restrictions on a $550 million system to prevent runway collisions are compromising safety by keeping the system from accurately tracking snowplows, firetrucks and other ground vehicles at most airports, according to government data and air-traffic controllers.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says the risks of a crash on the ground represent the greatest threat in aviation, and the potential for a plane to strike one of the vehicles that crowd commercial airports is a significant part of the problem.

Collisions between vehicles and planes were narrowly averted 26 times from 2003 through January, according to a USA TODAY review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data. That represents 22% of all serious runway incidents, or about one...