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American Morning

FAA Looking at Ways to Prevent Runway Incursions

Aired June 27, 2001 - 10:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The American flying public has its own safety concerns to worry about. The nation's airports are on track to eclipse last year's record number of runway incursions: incidents in which planes, vehicles or individuals stray onto the wrong runways. Each mistake could cost hundreds of lives.

CNN's Patty Davis is at Reagan National Airport with a closer look for us this morning -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, one of those close calls happened here at Reagan National Airport just last month. An air traffic controller cleared a small plane to land, but at the same time cleared a large US Airways jet to take off.

He realized, though, that he had made his mistake. He realized that those two planes would likely collide at the intersection of the two runways and ordered the small plane to stop. The small plane was actually able to do so about 200 feet from that US Airways jetliner as it roared down the runway -- a collision averted in this incidence.

But the numbers are rising nationwide. And so far this year, that trend looks to be about the same as last year: 201 runway incursions the FAA says so far this year, compared to last year's 202. And the FAA has taken a number of steps, including a new radar-based system that is already at San Francisco and at Detroit airports -- coming to other of the nation's largest airports. That system alerts the controllers to potential collisions on the ground. And the FAA says there is one thing in common with all of these runway incursions.

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WILLIAM DAVIS, RUNWAY SAFETY DIRECTOR, FAA: Every incursion that we looked at had a common thread, human error, whether the error was made by a controller or a pilot, a driver or a pedestrian. This is why the problem of runway incursions is so difficult to resolve. As we have long known, to err is human and always will be.

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DAVIS: Yesterday on Capitol Hill: intense criticism of the FAA's efforts to get those runway incursions under control -- the Transportation Department's watchdog says that the FAA needs to focus on new technologies, not only for controllers, but for pilots as well.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would want to stress that most of the FAA's major technology efforts have focused on helping controllers prevent accidents, although pilot error continues to be the leading cause of runway incursions.

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DAVIS: Now, while there hasn't been a major runway incursion or a major collision involving a U.S. jetliner in some years it is just a matter of time, say federal regulators before that may happen -- Leon.

HARRIS: Thanks much, Patty Davis, reporting live from Reagan National Airport in Washington.

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