Ironically, one of the most sought after safety goals relating to flight involve aircraft that are not even in the air. To accommodate more departures and arrivals as the aviation industry grew, airports have increased in size and complexity. While airports have evolved to have multiple intersecting runways and complex taxiways, the resources available to pilots to find their way to the correct runway via the correct taxi route have evolved little. Although taxiway diagrams and airport signage have proven reliable, they are extremely unforgiving of human error. Unfortunately, as the number of departures and arrivals increase so do the chances of a human error occurring while on the ground. These errors often result in runway incursions.
A runway incursion as defined by the FAA and ICAO is “Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft.” Runway incursions have claimed the lives of hundreds of aircrew and passengers and for this reason several new procedures are now in effect.
Previously, when instructed to “taxi to runway 20 via bravo,” the taxiing aircraft could cross any runway intersected by bravo until he reached the hold-short line of 20. However, the new regulation states that the taxiing aircraft must automatically hold-short of all runways unless specifically told they were allowed to cross, “taxi to runway 20 via bravo, cross runway 16-34.”
Other procedures in affect include the requirement to read back all hold-short instructions to ATC to confirm that the hold-short message was received. Also, progressive taxi instructions are available for pilots who are unfamiliar with the airport layout.
Through utilizing all available resources and giving the same attention to ground operations that is given to other phases of flight, runway incursions can be significantly reduced.
A runway incursion as defined by the FAA and ICAO is “Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft.” Runway incursions have claimed the lives of hundreds of aircrew and passengers and for this reason several new procedures are now in effect.
Previously, when instructed to “taxi to runway 20 via bravo,” the taxiing aircraft could cross any runway intersected by bravo until he reached the hold-short line of 20. However, the new regulation states that the taxiing aircraft must automatically hold-short of all runways unless specifically told they were allowed to cross, “taxi to runway 20 via bravo, cross runway 16-34.”
Other procedures in affect include the requirement to read back all hold-short instructions to ATC to confirm that the hold-short message was received. Also, progressive taxi instructions are available for pilots who are unfamiliar with the airport layout.
Through utilizing all available resources and giving the same attention to ground operations that is given to other phases of flight, runway incursions can be significantly reduced.
Wells, Alexander, & Rodrigues, Clarence. (2003). Commercial aviation safety. McGraw-Hill Professional.
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