By far the most common cause of runway incursion events is collision or conflict between aircraft on active runways and taxiing aircraft crossing them, with pilot error more common than air traffic control (ATC) mistakes, according to a new study by Honeywell for the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). The runway incursion issue was highlighted by last year's collision between an SAS Boeing MD-87 and a Cessna business jet at Milan Linate Airport, in which 118 people were killed.
Honeywell's senior safety analyst Dr Ratan Khatwa says that the clearest problem the industry has to correct is the worldwide lack of quality reporting on runway incursion incidents, and European Joint Aviation Authorities chief executive Klaus Koplin acknowledges that the gravity of the threat has been underestimated. At the FSF's safety seminar in Dublin, Ireland, last week, Khatwa revealed that 33% of all runway incursion events were between aircraft on the active runway and others taxiing across or on to them. Three other scenarios were common: simultaneous landing and take-off on the same runway (11%); take-off, landing or lining up on the wrong runway (13%); and simultaneous landings or take-offs on crossing runways (13%).
Khatwa observes that the causes are almost all "back to basics" issues of procedure, use of incorrect ATC language, or poor use of charts or lookout.
Source: Flight International
