FAA Convenes Runway Safety Council

Air Safety Week, Nov 10, 2008

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has created a Runway Safety Council, a joint government-industry body that will take a deeper, systemic approach to improving runway safety.

The RSC, which is slated to meet every other month, is comprised of FAA, ALPA, airport, air carrier, air traffic controllers, and general aviation representatives. The council's mission is to employ a risk-based, root-causal analysis methodology to identify runway risk mitigation strategies and offer safety recommendations.

The goal of the council is to fundamentally change the existing safety culture and move toward a proactive management strategy that involves different segments of the aviation industry.

The council will play a lead role in resolving critical surface safety issues. The participating entities will dedicate subject matter experts and analysts to a team that will examine the root causes of runway incursions. The Root Cause Analysis Team will investigate incidents from a systems perspective, getting input from airports, operators and air traffic.

One focus will be on how human factors contribute to runway incursions and what can be done to reduce human errors. The Root Cause Analysis Team will analyze and attempt to resolve issues in a positive, non-punitive environment. The team will recommend to the council ways to resolve or mitigate system risks. If the council supports the recommendations, it will work with different parts of the FAA to address what needs to be done, and track progress toward a solution of the problem.

A coordinated, systemic approach is necessary because serious runway incursions are seldom caused by a single factor.

More than 600,000 pilots made more than 61 million takeoffs and landings last year at airports with air traffic control towers. These operations were handled by about 14,000 air traffic controllers at more than 500 towered airports. Adding to this complex choreography are the hundreds of thousands of individuals who drive vehicles on airport grounds.

The sheer number of flights, people, and vehicles moving across airport runways and taxiways means there is no single way to reduce runway incursions. Runway safety is a shared responsibility among pilots, controllers, and vehicle drivers. Automated warning systems enhance runway safety, but education and situational awareness are the keys to preventing incursions.

The current culture separates responsibility for incursions into different categories: operational errors by controllers, pilot deviations or vehicle or pedestrian deviations. Investigations into those incidents are conducted by different parts of the agency, depending on which category is responsible.

The council includes 12-15 officials from the FAA, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Air Transport Association, the American Association of Airport Executives, the Airports Council International, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the National Association of Flight Instructors, the National Business Aviation Association and the Air Taxi Association.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) named Capt. Rory Kay, executive air safety chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the new Runway Safety Council's industry co-chair. Capt. Kay will serve a one-year term in that position; Wes Timmons, FAA's director of runway safety, is the other co-chair.

"It's my great pleasure to better serve the safety of the traveling public in this role," said Kay. "The experience that pilots bring to the table is irreplaceable, and we're thankful that the FAA recognizes it.

"We're pleased that the RSC will use the same type of data-driven approach that the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) has used to significantly reduce the airline accident rate," Kay said. "By using the CAST model, we are optimistic that the RSC will be successful in reducing the potential for runway incursions."

The goal of the new group is to identify ways to reduce the severity and frequency of Category A and B incursions--the most dangerous types--by five percent each year.

Despite the government's and industry's heightened emphasis on reducing runway incursions over the past year, the actual number of incursions has risen, which demonstrates the difficulty of thwarting this hazard in a meaningful way.

"This fits right into ALPA's 'Hold Short for Runway Safety' campaign," added Kay. "We've started several endeavors to raise the awareness of runway hazards to pilots around the world, including a Web site, newsletters, and informational materials."

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