The Runways Still Look Clearer From Alternate Airports
On November 22, we talked about delays at hub airports – like we needed to. You’ve flown through them; you know all about it. We also talked about some alternate airports that are available for general aviation use. Those alternate airports take some of the traffic strain off of the hub airports through which air mass-transit providers are routing more and more aircraft. The risks of running so many aircraft through that finite space are many, including the delays we discussed. Other risks increased by the heavy traffic through those airports are runway incursions and aircraft near misses.
On 25 October 2009, while moving on the ground, a Midwest Express Embraer regional jet and a Northwest Airlines 757 came within 82 feet of each other in a runway incursion event, the Los Angeles Times reports. A runway incursion is “any occurrence at an airport involving an aircraft, vehicle, person, or object on the ground that creates a collision hazard or results in loss of separation with an aircraft taking off, intending to take off, landing or intending to land.” While the FAA ultimately determined that the incident was a Category C incursion, thus, minor since there was “ample time and distance to avoid a potential collision,” according to the Associated Press, I’m sure that the passengers might have classified it a little differently.
Less than a month later, on 23 November 2009, two passenger jets missed each other over the Denver International Airport by 200 vertical feet, according to The Denver Channel. The incident was classified as a Category B incident since it was “operational error” which occurred when the flight was handed off from Longmont Center to DIA Approach Control. The two ATC entities apparently did not communicate well in this situation. The passengers probably never even knew that their aircraft were that close.
No one was hurt in either of these events – thankfully.
Let’s put those numbers in perspective. A basketball court is 94 feet long. A tennis court is 78 feet long. School buses are about 40 feet long. The aircraft in Los Angeles were about two school buses apart.
New York City’s Chrysler building is 1047 feet tall. London’s Big Ben is 315.9 feet tall. New Orleans’ Super Dome is 253 feet tall. The aircraft over Denver were closer to each other than the Saints fans in the nose-bleed seats are to the field.
Thousands of flights take-off and land without incident every single day in this country. However, in 2008, there were 1009 runway incursions. That number is a little alarming; but, to be fair, I must point out that most of these really were minor and no one was in any serious danger. There are hundreds of near-misses annually. Several factors prevent these incidents from evolving into accidents. ATC has some back-ups in place. Pilots may visually see the other aircraft. However, perhaps the best tool to keep aircraft from colliding is called TCAS – Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems. Within a certain distance, the aircraft detect each other and advise the crew on the course of action to follow to avoid the collision.
Runway incursions and near misses can and do happen at any airport or in any airspace. The thing is, the more aircraft you have in a finite space, the greater the risks. Air mass-transit aircraft were involved in both of the incidents I’ve cited here; so, using an alternate airport like Centennial in Denver or Van Nuys in Los Angeles wasn’t really an option. And unless air mass-transit providers reverse their trend of moving more flights to hubs airports, the situation isn’t likely to get any better.
Until then, the way still just looks clearer from the Dallas Executive taxiway.
3 Trackback(s)