The FAA defines a hot spot as a location on an airport movement area that demands heightened attention by pilots and vehicle operators due to the history of potential collision or runway incursion. Knowing where any hot spots are at the airports you intend to use arms you with useful risk management information. Meanwhile, the FAA has gone sort of nuts with the airport hot spot concept. Don’t believe me? Check out the airport diagram for Addison Airport (KADS) in Dallas, Texas, below. Every taxiway intersection east of the runway is a hot spot.
But what about airborne hot spots, those locations where a mid-air collision is more likely, or has happened more than once? Aren’t close encounters in the actual skies something to be as mindful of as those on the ground? There are clearly places in the U.S. airspace system, especially places with concentrated air traffic, that require heightened risk management. The FAA doesn’t have a specific program for identifying mid-air hot spots, but we can use logic and draw from experience to find where they occur and plan accordingly.
