No. 1 in Airfield Close Calls, LAX Finds Solutions Elusive
A revelation that Los Angeles International Airport ranked as the nation’s worst for the number of serious near-crashes has intensified the debate about the seemingly intractable problem on the LAX airfield.
The FAA report released last week concluded that LAX had the nation’s highest number of serious near-collisions from 1997 to 2000. During that time, there were 13 serious incidents at LAX: one in 1997, two in 1998, and five each in 1999 and 2000.
The FAA report is part of a stepped-up nationwide effort to address the problem of near-collisions, which has grown since 1991 from 242 to 429 last year. Experts say the potential for crashes on airfields is the biggest challenge facing aviators today.
“The most stressful time for pilots is ground operation,” said Capt. Mack Moore, a pilot who works on the “runway incursion” prevention project at the Airline Pilots Assn. International.
For years, LAX has wrestled with improving runway safety. Pilots and controllers say many near-misses are related to the airfield’s configuration. Several solutions, including airport expansion and reconfiguring runways, face intense local opposition because of noise and other concerns.
In addition to the FAA report, LAX officials are defending the airport’s record so far this year. LAX has had five near-collisions through May. During the same period in 2000 there were three.
LAX officials point out that incidents this year were ranked by the FAA as level C and D, meaning the chances of a crash were remote.
Categories A and B, on the other hand, are the most serious and mean a collision was close at hand.
“We’re halfway through this year, and no incursions have had a severity of A or B,” said Jerry Snyder, public affairs officer for the FAA’s Western Pacific Region. “This has a lot to do with awareness, positive training and education, and better communication between controllers and pilots.”
All of the near-collisions so far this year have been centered on the south side of the airfield--as have about 80% of the incidents recorded at LAX since 1997. The south side of the airport handles about 60% of the facility’s traffic.
The report’s findings sparked discussions about the adequacy of solutions to address the problem of what’s known in airline jargon as “runway incursions.”
For instance, flashing yellow lights installed along taxiways that connect parallel runways on the north and south side of the airfield can be ambiguous to pilots, Moore said.
“It’s the same as when you’re driving a car and you encounter a yellow light--you aren’t sure what that means,” Moore said. “It means you have to be careful--but a pilot always has to be careful.”
Moore suggests a sign posted near runway entrances that offers pilots directions such as “cross” or “line up.” These signals would reinforce instructions given to pilots by air traffic controllers, he added.
Additional lighting on taxiways is part of a $5-million plan adopted by the airport in 1999 to address near-collisions. Airfield improvements included enlarging “hold bars,” which tell pilots where to stop at the end of taxiways; adding signs; and distributing posters showing problem spots to pilots.
Many argue these solutions are only short-term fixes that must be accompanied by a master plan for modernizing the aging airport, both to accommodate bigger planes and to make the airport safer.
But due to stiff opposition from a coalition of 100 Southern California cities, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and others, modernization isn’t likely to happen for years, if at all, leaving few alternatives to fix the airfield problems. The FAA report gave airport officials an opportunity for the first time to link the safety issues with the need to approve the master plan.
“I don’t know how someone can look at the report that came out and say that we don’t need to upgrade this airport,” said John Agoglia, president of the Airport Commission. “I hope and pray that it doesn’t take a serious accident to bring people to their senses.”
One solution that’s closer at hand is a system LAX will roll out this summer that uses ground radar to alert controllers when a plane has trespassed on an active runway.
The airport and the FAA are also working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to study changing the way air traffic is handled at LAX. As part of this project, officials simulate different air traffic scenarios at LAX using a virtual tower at the Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale.
During these simulations, LAX controllers try out the scenarios and fill out questionnaires detailing their opinions, said Nancy Dorighi, manager of NASA’s FutureFlight Central, where the simulations are being conducted.
NASA will brief LAX and FAA officials on their findings this summer.
One of these simulations focused on a controversial suggestion to swap runways at LAX so jets land on the inner runways and take off from the outer ones. For 40 years, pilots have touched down on runways closest to the communities of El Segundo and Westchester and taken off from runways closest to the terminals to cut down on noise.
But this setup requires pilots to drive from outside runways across inside runways to the terminals--a maneuver that caused many of the near-collisions at LAX in the last four years.
The proposal to swap the runways has been criticized by controllers, who say that doing so would cut down on the number of departures that the airport could handle and compromise safety further than the current configuration.
“If they were to change those runways, you would see a noticeable increase in runway incursions,” said Jim Holtsclaw, an aviation consultant who was in charge of the LAX tower from 1984 through 1988.
He added that moving the runways farther apart and adding a parallel taxiway between runways on the north and south sides of the airfield, where pilots could stop and talk through instructions with controllers, would provide a much higher margin of safety.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Near Misses
The 13 near collisions at Los Angeles International Airport from January 2000 through last month highlight problem areas on the airfield. Almost 80% of the near collisions at LAX since 1997 occurred on the south side of the facility.
