Runway Error Marred LAX Ceremony
On the day Los Angeles International Airport was being recognized for its improved runway safeguards, two Boeing 737s violated safety rules by coming too close to each other--a reminder of the continuing dangers from such incidents.
No one was hurt in the Jan. 24 incident, which occurred about 20 minutes before a ceremony at LAX in which an official from Washington presented a plaque lauding the airport’s efforts. Details were provided by authorities this week.
The event underscored the frustration of the Federal Aviation Administration as it attempts to reverse the rising number of “runway incursions,” in which a plane breaches the safety zone around a runway being used by another aircraft for takeoff or landing.
Acknowledged as the leading hazard in aviation safety, runway incursions grew by 34% nationwide last year, from 321 in 1999 to 429, according to recently released FAA numbers. If not resolved, the problem has the potential to cause 15 fatal collisions on U.S. runways in the next two decades, according to a statistical projection prepared for the FAA.
In Southern California, LAX and John Wayne International Airport were exceptions to the trend--with the number of incidents dropping from 10 to eight at LAX and from nine to seven at John Wayne. Long Beach airport had eight runway incursions last year, an increase from six in 1999. The FAA considers four or more such incidents a year at any airport to be a serious matter.
In a report on runway incursions due to be released soon, the Department of Transportation inspector general is expected to call on the FAA to speed the introduction of cockpit displays that can tell pilots whether another jet is using a particular runway. The technology is a distant cousin of the electronic navigation systems already available in automobiles.
John Mayrhofer, a veteran air traffic control manager who heads the FAA’s runway safety program, was in Los Angeles to present the award on the day of the incident. In an interview this week, Mayrhofer said he was disappointed that the incident had occurred but added that it should not overshadow the gains LAX has made in providing warnings to pilots and upgrading runway signs and lights.
FAA supervisors also will be helping overworked LAX air traffic controllers by taking turns in the tower to allow for the training of new controllers.
“L.A. has provided leadership and focus and clearly made improvements,” he said, adding ruefully: “When these [incidents] occur, there’s not a lot you can do.”
Mayrhofer said he believes the national increase in runway incidents from 1999 to last year is partly due to more conscientious reporting, as a result of the high priority the FAA has assigned to the issue.
The LAX incident--the only incursion in Los Angeles so far this year--involved jets using two parallel runways on the south side of the airport, the FAA said. America West Airlines Flight 2026 from Phoenix landed on the outer runway shortly after 10:30 a.m. and turned right on a taxiway to head for the terminal.
A controller instructed the pilot to stop short of the inner runway to allow another jet to land, and the pilot radioed back, correctly acknowledging the order. But the America West plane failed to stop at the proper place, a set of bold yellow “hold bars” painted on the taxiway short of the runway.
In the meantime, another Boeing 737, identified by the FAA as Norontair Flight 5, was about to touch down on the inner runway.
The controller saw the America West jet slowing to a stop between the hold bars and the runway edge and made a split-second decision that it would be safe to allow the other jet to continue its landing.
The two aircraft came within 100 feet of each other.
Had the second aircraft been a Boeing 747, which has a wider wingspan, “that would not have been a good thing,” said Mike Foote, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. at LAX. “It’s the luck of what aircraft is rolling down the runway.”
America West spokeswoman Patty Nowack said the pilot is cooperating with the FAA’s investigation and has signed up for a runway safety program.
Ten years ago last Thursday, a Boeing 737 and a commuter plane crashed at night on an LAX runway, killing 34 people.
