Faa Says Runway Plane Accident Numbers Down

The Federal Aviation Administration has some encouraging news for California aviation accident lawyers

. There has been a decline in the number of plane collisions on American runways, including at Los Angeles International airport. In fact, according to the FAA, the drop in runway collisions has dropped to its most significant level in a decade.

The number of near misses declined by more than 50 percent, and dropped from 25 cases in fiscal year 2008, to 12 cases in the fiscal year that ended on September 30th. The drop in accident numbers was especially significant in incidents involving at least one commercial airliner. The number of near misses involving commercial airliners fell from 9 in the fiscal year 2008 to 2 this year.

According to the FAA Administrator, the decline can be attributed to a sustained program to reduce the number of collisions and near misses on American runways. The FAA in 2007 began a program that included addition of new safety technologies, and revising of plane taxiing procedures. The FAA also pressured airline companies and airports to introduce safety improvements. This included repainting runway markers and adding sophisticated safety systems that cost millions of dollars. All these efforts have paid off, and the results can be seen in a significant drop in accidents on airport runways.

Los Angeles International Airport has also been able to reduce the number of runway incursions that frequently place planes at risk of an accident. These incursions occur when planes don't stop at hold lines on the taxiways that lead to the runways. A plane that strays too far from the line is at a higher risk of an accident with other planes. Between 1999 and 2007, Los Angeles Airport had some of the worst safety records in the country, with the most number of runway safety violations. In one of the most serious of such incidents, two commercial airliners came within 37 feet of each other, avoiding a potentially serious accident. Since then, Los Angeles airport authorities have invested at least $350 million in improvements, including installing a taxiway between two southern runways, where a high number of incursions used to take place.

Installing the taxiways have brought down the number of incursions on runways, and have helped prevent accidents and near misses. In June this year, Los Angeles airport also began operation of a new warning system along one of its runways and 8 taxiways that were determined to be at the highest risk for a collision. The warning systems cost $7 million to set up, and involved radar connected to runway lights. When the radar detects a situation in which there could be possibly be a conflict between two planes, the lights on the runway automatically go red, warning pilots about a potential accident. Los Angeles airport also asked airlines to install sophisticated cockpit systems that allow pilots to see their exact location at the airport, and also have access to information about the runways that they are about to enter, cross or leave.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, runway collisions are on the list of its most necessary safety improvements. The worst plane accident in history involved not sabotage or terrorism, but two planes at a Canary Islands airport in 1997 crashing into each other on the runway, killing 583 people.

by: Robert Reeves

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