Editorial: Ominous runway dangers

Friday, June 16, 2000 | 9:29 a.m.

When most people think of disasters involving commercial aviation, they think of a mishap that causes a plane to crash while in the air. Yet, as the National Transportation Safety Board pointed out this week, a less-noticed danger involves what happens on the ground. The NTSB is concerned that a hefty increase in airport traffic, coupled with the fact that a computer system that was supposed to reduce on-the-ground collisions still isn't ready, is increasing the risk that there will be more collisions between planes. For instance, the number of times a plane or other vehicle intruded on an active runway increased by 27 percent in the first five months of 2000, compared to the same time frame last year.

In response, the NTSB is recommending a variety of safety recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce the number of runway incursions and other incidents. For starters, the NTSB believes there need to be fixes to the FAA's proposed computer tracking system, which the NTSB asserts has dangerous flaws. For example, there could be situations when the computer system alerts the local controller of a possible disaster only after two planes already are on a collision course that can't be avoided. In addition, the NTSB is recommending that pilots stop at each runway, and not cross until receiving permission from an air traffic controller, which should decrease the likelihood of a collision.

What often is forgotten, as the New York Times pointed out in a story Wednesday about the NTSB's proposals, is that the worst disaster in aviation history occurred when two Boeing 747s collided on the ground in the Canary Islands in 1977, killing 582 people. And for those who think this couldn't happen again, consider this: At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport last year a Korean Air 747 nearly hit an Air China 747 that suddenly came onto its runway as the Korean jet took off. Only a last-second maneuver by the Korean Air pilot averted a disaster for the 387 people who were on both planes. The NTSB's recommendations are sensible and should spur action by the FAA and the nation's commercial aviation pilots to use common-sense ideas to reduce the possibility of deadly ground collisions.