Runway Incursions: A Simple Lack Of SA?

Flying Safety, July, 2001 by Erik W. Nikula

Have you ever called for taxi and been baffled by the clearance you received? Have you ever heard what you thought was clearance for takeoff, but you weren't completely stire? Now compound these scenarios with the possibility that you're in a hurry and you're at an unfamiliar airport with visibility and/or nighttime conditions. I'm sure any pilot with at least a couple of hundred hours of flight time has experienced something like this. So what did you do? Did you "press on," confident in your assumption of what the controller meant, or did you hold position and ask for clarification?

As pilots, many of us often pride ourselves in the belief that we are pretty near to perfect. So much so, we think we can make sense of any situation with complete accuracy. The danger is that we can unwittingly bet our lives (and those of others) on incomplete or erroneous information.

On 27 March 1977, the pilot of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 747 taking off from a runway in the Canary Islands did just that and collided with a Pan American 747. The result: 583 deaths and the worst aviation disaster in history.

The FAA defines a runway incursion as "Any occurrence at an airport involving an aircraft, vehicle or person on the ground that creates a collision hazard or results in a loss of separation with an aircraft taking off, intending to takeoff, landing or intending to land." Recently, runway safety has become an FAA special interest item. They're looking into new ways to address a problem that has increased steadily since the 1980s. Statistics provided by Professional Pilot magazine reveal that runway incursions increased 171 percent from 1988 to 1999, and those resulting from pilot actions went up 267 percent during the Same period. In addition, pilots are currently responsible for twice as many runway incursions as all other categories of causes combined. Another interesting fact provided by the Air Safety Foundation indicates that most incidents occur during day visual meteorological conditions, but most "close calls" and accidents happen at night or in instrument meteorological conditions.

The phenomenon has always existed, but the rising number of incidents is, undoubtedly, the result of increased air and ground traffic at airports and military bases. Unfortunately, runway incursions have proven extremely difficult to address because they occur in the complex, constantly changing environment of the aerodrome and their causes can be difficult to pinpoint. Often, the details of what happened are known, but the question of "why" goes unanswered. Some areas being examined are: incorrect clearance interpretation, poor radio communications, lack of pilot familiarity with the airport and misunderstanding signs or markings.

To address these areas, the FAA is currently developing an Advisory Circular with a checklist for preventing runway incursions. The proposed Part 91 checklist recommends actions that many military pilots, most likely, already do (either as technique or procedure), but Aviation Monthly has detailed some of the items worth looking at. They are: "review the airport diagram before engine start; read back your taxi clearance; if in doubt, verify your clearance at taxiway intersections and runway crossings; scan for surface traffic/approaching traffic before crossing a runway; expedite a runway crossing until the entire aircraft is clear of the runway; read back a clearance when entering the active runway for takeoff; scan for conflicting/approaching traffic; and expedite your takeoff when cleared."

To this I would add: closely monitor ground and tower frequencies. You can often hear a conflict developing over the radio before you find yourself in the situation. If the KLM 747 crew had just listened closer to tower frequency, they would have realized the Pan American 747 was not yet clear of the runway. Unfortunately, fog prevented them from visually acquiring the other 747 until it was too late. Remember the statistic about when most runway incursion accidents happen?

The high volume of aircraft operating on or in close proximity to a runway puts more lives at risk than at any other time in a flight. There is little room for error in such an environment. Add all of this up and you have a problem with potentially disastrous results that doesn't readily lend itself to easy solutions because of the human factors involved.

When it comes to runway incursions, a lack of situational awareness and a willingness to act on false assumptions seem to be common threads. Increasing our situational awareness by all means available must, therefore, be the top priority when moving on the surface or flying in the vicinity of an aerodrome. Following the FAA's recommendations and applying an extra measure of caution could make the difference.

Certainly, the statistics and the stories reveal the unmistakable fact loud and clear that we, as pilots, are definitely the "wild card" when it comes to runway incursions. Therefore, responsibility for any improvements in this area rests with us.