NTSB urges runway safety improvements
Board: Near miss at Los Angeles airport points to weaknesses
From Mike M. Ahlers
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- To dramatize its calls for improved airport runway safety, the National Transportation Safety Board is using video animation depicting an August incident in which a jumbo jet landing at Los Angeles International Airport came within 12 seconds of striking a Boeing 737 taxiing for takeoff.
The close call was the result of an air traffic controller's mistake, a Federal Aviation Administration official acknowledged.
The controller, who was beginning a shift, was told an Asiana Airlines Boeing 747 had been cleared to land on one runway but "somehow got it in his head" the plane was landing on a parallel runway more commonly used for landings, the official said.
The controller gave a Southwest Airlines 737 clearance to take off from the runway. With only seconds to spare, the Asiana pilot spotted the Southwest plane and aborted his landing, narrowly avoiding a collision.
The incident was a dramatic example of a runway incursion, defined as any event in which a plane, vehicle, person or object intrudes on an active runway.
The NTSB renewed its call Tuesday for the FAA to improve systems to ensure runway safety and to warn pilots of probable collisions.
Current state-of-the-art systems warn controllers about probable collisions but do not alert pilots.
The safety board said the Los Angeles incident also illustrates another problem: the underreporting of runway incursions. Air traffic control officials did not report the incident as an operational error, the board said.
"The fact that such incidents are not being reported casts doubt on the FAA's claims that the runway incursion rate is declining," NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners said. "The FAA needs to review its reporting process."
But an FAA spokeswoman said the incident wasn't immediately tagged as a runway incursion because it was under investigation. Others reported the incident to the safety board before the FAA completed its probe, spokeswoman Laura Brown said.
Brown said the FAA is upgrading its system that warns controllers of impending collisions and is working on three test programs that involve runway lighting to alert pilots.
The FAA said the number of runway incursions has declined significantly in recent years.
The NTSB and FAA will meet December 8 to discuss the safety board's recommendations.
