Urgent call to end frequent runway near-misses

摘要

Only evasive action "bordering on the heroic" and a large slice of luck prevented a clutch of collisions between passenger jets on the runways of some of the US's busiest airports this year. So says Mark Rosenker, the head of the US air accident investigation body, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Rosenker claims the technology used to prevent runway collisions at US airports is putting lives at risk, because it is designed in such a way that pilots receive crucial warnings far too late. Speaking at a conference on airport operations in Dulles, Virginia, on 13 September, he delivered a devastating critique of the measures taken to prevent so-called "runway incursions" that could lead to a collision. These happen at airports when aircraft, or aircraft and ground vehicles breach safe separation distances.