Runway Incursions: Failed Expectations

Fortunately for those of us who fly, runway incursions that cause accidents are relatively rare. But thats not to say incursions themselves are rare: Runway blunders have become an everyday thing, so much so that NASAs Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) has thousands of incident reports best described as coulda-beens. We recently reviewed an intriguing report on this subject delivered to the [IMGCAP(1)]International Symposium on Aviation Psychology in Dayton, Ohio, last April by Dr. Ed Wischmeyer, an aviation researcher and contributor to our sister publication, KITPLANES. Wischmeyer mined some 2000-plus ASRS reports collected between January 2003 and January 2006. His search criteria sought out reports on ground conflict and ground incursion incidents. This search yielded 1049 relevant reports, 723 of which were from turbine operators and 326 from smaller piston aircraft on personal or instructional flights.

Key Takeaways:

• Runway incursions are frequent "coulda-beens," largely due to a fragmented system where flight crews, air traffic controllers, and airport designers operate with misaligned assumptions and expectations.
• Key contributing factors identified include communication breakdowns, inconsistent airport signage and procedures, and a general lack of understanding of each other's operational realities.
• Meaningful improvement requires a holistic, system-wide approach that integrates all components of aviation safety, rather than implementing isolated fixes or addressing issues in silos.

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