The US Federal Aviation Administration has received a notice from the National Transportation Safety Board that the agency has not responded acceptably to runway safety recommendations issued after the 27 August 2006 fatal crash of a Comair Bombardier CRJ100 at Lexington, Kentucky.
The crash occurred when pilots took off from the wrong runway, which was too short to allow the aircraft to reach take-off speed.
The NTSB says that the FAA has taken too long to issue regulations requiring "all crew members on the fightdeck to positively confirm and cross-check the aircraft's location at the assigned departure runway before crossing the hold-short line for take-off".
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It adds that an FAA directive issued in July 2007 requiring air traffic controllers to state the take-off runway, but not prohibiting controllers from issuing take-off clearance before intervening runways have been crossed, is not adequate. The NTSB says: "The point of this recommendation is to delay issuing any take-off clearance until the aircraft has crossed all intervening runways. Simply restating the runway, as the notice directs, is therefore not responsive."
The safety board notes that the FAA convened a runway safety summit in August 2007, and later performed surveys on airline safety practices, but has not informed the NTSB of its results.
The NTSB also says it is time for the FAA to mandate that moving map technology be installed in cockpits, despite the FAA's concern that the technological infrastructure is not yet in place. The board also said it is waiting for the agency to convene a working group to review its recommendations on air traffic controller workloads and procedures.
Source: Flight International
