THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has unveiled its updated programme to address runway incursions.
The so-called Runway Incursion Action Plan includes a timetable for deployment of the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), a software enhancement to the Westinghouse Norden ASDE-3 which will alert controllers to potential runway incursions.
The aviation agency, which has been accused of moving too slowly to improve runway safety, released the plan two days before a hearing on a fatal runway-incursion accident to be conducted by the US Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The FAA's programme to install the ASDE-3 at 34 airports in the USA has been slowed by technical problems. AMASS development has moved slowly and, to date, only 12 ASDE-3 systems are operational. Eleven other are planned to be commissioned between April and September. The NTSB recommended in February that the FAA expedite AMASS development and set a firm schedule for commissioning the ASDE-3 systems.
The AMASS programme has now been accelerated, with the mission-need statement signed in February and the operational requirements document approved on 12 April. Also in February, a meeting was held to baseline-specification requirements for full-scale development of the AMASS.
The first AMASS deployment is now scheduled for May 1996 at San Francisco International Airport. System-wide application is scheduled for 1997.
The NTSB charges that "factions" within the FAA "...are attempting to require that AMASS become something it was never intended to be". The NTSB adds, that changes to the AMASS, which would have caused delays and increased costs, were demanded, although "...most of the modifications were not associated with issues of safety, but rather had to do with human [controller] interface". The FAA believes it has now alleviated its infighting.
The proposal also focuses on reducing human error, improving ground communications and developing and implementing technologies to increase surface guidance and surveillance, as well as improving ground-traffic management procedures and equipment.
Source: Flight International
