How to Avoid Runway Incursion - Research Paper Example

Abstract Runway incursion occurs when an aircraft, person or vehicle is in collision with an aircraft that is landing or taking off under the supervision of the air traffic control. Runway incursions are always occurring frequently despite the interventions and efforts by the aviation administration in preventing the frequent occurrences. Various recommendations have been made by the national safety board recently to curb and prevent the more incursions by having a scheduled passenger schedules in all airports. In addition, a ground safety system had been facilitated to give direct warning to the flight crews thus preventing the incursions. Control surface movement and an operational concept have been established thus improving the capability of the runway operations. Simulation activities have been put in place to avoid runway incursions. The system has been tested using flight experiments and simulation that has a mission that is full at all airports in the world today. The quality of the system, its results and the anecdotal results will be highlighted and presented together with the assessment of the technology that has been developed to prevent further incursions. The program outcomes and areas of specialization are well presented in the paper. Statement of the Project The project involves how to avoid run away incursions in designated airports. The project aims to reduce the number and frequency of the occurrence of the runaway incursions in the world. The project looks forward to make people aware of run away incursions, classifications, the associated contributing factors and the prevention strategies. In order, for this project to achieve its goal it will advocate for the implementing of the following missions. Improve runway security data collection, analysis and dissemination. Make sure that signage and markings are ICAO compliant and visible to pilots and drivers. Develop a scheme for improving the standard of communications. Ensure that procedures are up to the standards and recommended practices. Initiate local alertness by developing and distributing runway safety education and training material to controllers as stated in Wang (2009). The project will entail investigations, comparisons, contrast and analyzes of the current aviation run away incursion situations in the world. The project will talk about what runaway incursions meaning, the factors that lead to its occurrence, effects and how it can be avoided or prevented. The project will ensure that the program outcomes are achieved by putting the relevant factors in order. The information required for this project will mostly be derived from the internet. The project will be carried out among the 100 pilots of four top international airports in the world. The research will be carried out online since it will be impossible for me to reach the airports physically due to several constraints and reasons. It will be carried out by posting questionnaires to the top international airports’ websites. Verification of the respondents will be done using their emails. The primary procedures have always worked in the past since the airport surfaces were not very congested, and the visibility was good. However, in recent times, the traffic volume has lately increased thus making the airport surfaces very congested even when the weather is very clear leading to more operations at night when the visibility is low. The demand is always increasing leading to complex airport layouts. The traditional procedures and technologies that are usually used have not been designed to accommodate all the changes in the world today leading to the rise of run way incursion. To improve safety due to the rising number of incursions; the control system and the movement guidance system should be maintained. There should be the ability of the flight crew to avoid entering an active runway thus reducing the number of incursions. Human is to error; due to this fact the rate of incursions can never reach zero detection is needed on the runways. Avoidance is implemented before all operations through training, and planning all the activities by the pilots. In any environment, the main thing that pilots need to know is how to avoid any form of incursion. Pilots must trust the information given by the ATC to avoid routing constraints on airport surfaces. The knowledge that an aircraft is at a certain longitude and latitude does not in any way prevent the incursions. Flight crew and ATC play a big role in preventing the likelihood of plane incursions since they give information that the pilots use. How the program outcomes will be met The project will focus on meeting various program outcomes. Having runway safety teams will help in preventing runway incursions. Local safety team coordinated by a central authority develops an action that works on preventing all the occurrences. Information on hot sports on the runway is established through the communication program thus preventing the runway incursions. The aerodrome design also helps in preventing runway incursion such that the aircrafts need to be complex. Action items also mitigate runway safety measures because they primarily include physical features and facilities that reduce the probability of runway incursions. Education can be used as a tool for meeting the outcomes; runway incursions will be drastically reduced. Proper training of aircraft operators is a program that assists in the prevention of runway incursion. Air traffic providers are to be alert to meet the program set aside to reduce and prevent runway incursion. Environmental strategies that have been taught to the pilots like bad weather should help in the prevention of runway incursions. Program Outcome #1 the student will be able to apply the fundamentals of air transportation as part of a global, multimodal transportation system, including the technological, social, environmental, and political aspects of the system to examine, compare, analyze and recommend conclusion. To avoid the runway incursions and improve detection capabilities a functional system will be implemented using operational requirements of an airport. This will be majorly supported by recent technology since most of the functions at the runways are supported by it. The kind of technology used was chosen on their performance and readiness during operations. Program Outcome #2 The student will use the techniques and applications from this program and be able to apply the fundamentals of aircraft and spacecraft development, including research and developmental processes, vehicle mission requirements, manufacturing techniques, planning, production, procurement, supply and distribution to solve problems. The student will be able to identify and apply appropriate statistical analysis, to include techniques in data collection, review, critique, interpretation and inference in the aviation and aerospace industry. A global position system will help improve the position awareness in all the flight decks in addition, an airport mapping database with a display. Pilots will use the technologies to determine their position on the runway, know which runway they are currently on and when to intersect the runways. Program Outcome #3 The student will be able across all subjects to use the fundamentals of human factors in all aspects of the aviation and aerospace industry, including unsafe acts, attitudes, errors, human behavior, and human limitations as they relate to the aviators adaption to the aviation environment to reach conclusions. Controllers and pilots will improve and reduce the runway incursions in respect to traffic by accessing a geographical layout of the airport. A flight deck display is important for all the pilots to reduce the number of incursions where by both the controller and the pilot uses the same flight deck. A surveillance capability is required for the purpose of detecting any obstacles that may cause a collision on the runway. Program Outcome #4 The student will apply current aviation and industry related research and problem solving methods, including problem identification, hypothesis formulation, data gathering, data analysis, and presentation of findings to present as solutions for known problems and scenarios. The student will also use the application of research methodology and analysis in the investigation of aviation / aerospace related topic, in particular to solve problems from real life case examples. Incursions caused by pilot deviations can be avoided by use of taxi route and routing constraints being displayed on the flight deck. All pilots will refer to a graph that shows the approved route that is needed during the operation. This will help in the reinforcement of the clearance that is usually obtained over the radio. The display of the route can be enabled by manually entering it into the system thus reducing incursions and the pilot’s deviations and sticking to the route. Program Outcome #8 Aviation Aerospace Operation. The student will investigate, compare, contrast, analyze and form conclusions to current aviation, aerospace, and industry related topics in operations, including simulation systems, operations research, rotorcraft operations, communication and control systems, air carrier operations, and corporate operations. These are flight tests that have to be undertaken before the aircraft lands or take off to avoid runway incursions. A simulation study was done, and pilots are supposed to evaluate the function of the system which is not included in the detection of the runway incursion (Proctor 2000). The detection is very helpful when detecting pilot deviations from the route and this can be detected on board the aircraft. The pilot is in control in order to avoid incursions on the runway which will also prevent the aircraft to maneuver into very hazardous situations. If accurate traffic information is sufficient and accurate, the runway incursions will be easily detected automatically thus preventing collision. All traffic positions can be detected by the use of radar or it can be received through the data transponders on the aircraft. Once the incursions are detected, the alerts are generated during the flight operation which later helps avoiding conflict at the time of runway incursion. This system is meant to support the aircraft operation and acquires information on traffic in the airport terminal using several sources in order to test the aircraft. Introduction Pilots always rely on aids that are visual like the airfield markings which include the lighting and the paper mark. Their purpose is to help the pilots navigate from one point to another on the runway surface. Moreover, pilots also use radio to majorly get and obtain which route to follow while they are still on the surface. A ground controller is always in his place to issue the taxi routes to all the pilots using instructions. The protocol is strict to ensure that all the voice communications are clear and well understood. The instructions must be memorized by the pilot or they can write them down where by later, they should recite them to the controller who in turn confirms them. The pilot then follows all the signs and markings on the runway thus avoiding all obstructions and traffic on the surface. The ground controller should remember all the routes given to the pilots and always monitor the movement of the aircraft to avoid conflicts. In order to maintain safe separation, the principle of see and avoid is primarily used by flight crews when performing surveillance on the surface of the airport (Rankin and mattson1997). In the USA, airport surface detection equipment also known as the radar is used for data surveillance. Recently a publication was made to assess how severe the runway incursions are from 1997 to the present. In the year, 1997 to 2000 more than one thousand incursions were reported in more than 450 airports that are in the USA alone. However, most of the runway incursions reported was very minor thus reducing the risk of collision. The busy airports reported a high rate of runway incursions as a greater chance of collisions. Investigated reports say that operational errors caused the incursion and especially the pilot deviations or a vehicle pedestrian error of deviation. However, pilot errors of deviations were found to be the leading causes of incursions on runways contributing 60% of the findings. The errors of pilots and the ATC could help a great deal in avoiding the runway incursions if they had sufficient situational awareness (Young and Jones 1998). Review of Relevant Literature Various studies have been carried out to determine the severity of the runway problem in the world. Runway incursion is unintended presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the runway strip that creates a collision as stated in Abeyratne (2012). Runaway incursion is a threat in the world; have led to serious accidents with significant loss of life. It may also lead to destruction of property since during collision the involved vessels are crashed to nothing. 68% of accidents involving air traffic management occurred during the ground phase of the flight. There is a runway incursion every 3 to 4 days in Europe. There is a near collision due to incursion every 2 or 3 months in Europe. They occur both daytime and at night when there are low visibility conditions. Runway incursions are the concerns of the International Civil aviation Organization. McCreary (2010) argues that there are various incursions that have happened in the world. In April 1999, a China aircraft crashed into Korea flight killing eight people. On December 1999 due to low visibility at night at the green airport the plane went down the wrong taxiway and ended up slightly caused a collision. At Linate Airport disaster on October 2001, commercial airliner collided on take off with a taxiing Cessna. At the Indian Ocean tsunami aftermath water buffalo on the runway caused ground collision which seriously delayed relief flights. Runway incursions are classified in terms of the severity of the outcome of the incident. There are five groups of incursions. 1. A serious incident in which a crash is narrowly avoided. 2. An incident in which division decreases and there are likelihood for collision which results in critical response. 3. An incident where there is sufficient time and distance to avoid a collision. 4. An incident that meets the definition of runway incursion, but with no immediate safety penalty. 5. Inadequate information or conflicting evidence leading to a ruthlessness assessment. According to Abeyratne (2012) there are several factors leading to occurrence of runaway incursions. The major causes of incursion include undesired presence of vehicle; aircraft control team mistakes and flight crew errors. The crew may lack situational awareness during airport surface operations induced by weather considerations hence leading to incursions. The condition of the aircraft may also contribute to the occurrence of the incursions; congested airports with different-sized aircraft, close spaced parallel runways. There are several best practices and prevention strategies to reduce incursions. Adequate communication techniques use aviation language proficiency and proper knowledge of airport surface markings, lights and signs. Proper preparations of the expected taxi in and out. Costello (2010) states in the operational environment aircraft location, traffic locations and routing constraints should be observed. Maintaining adequate levels of situational awareness requires knowledge of the airport layout; particular latitude or longitudes do not provide useful information with respect to avoiding runway incursions. Successful prevention of runway incursions requires the collaboration of air traffic controllers, pilots, vehicle drivers and aerodrome management. Avoidance is the ability of a flight crew to reduce the likelihood of accidentally entering an active runway as stated in Dillingham (2009). Unfortunately, this likelihood has never reached zero due to human nature. Avoidance function is implemented to a particular operation through training, planning and experience. Movements are controlled and monitored by pilots performing see and avoid. There are no technologies or systems on board today’s aircraft to help pilots avoid incursions. Avoidance of these incursions is very critical and helpful. Dixon (2009) states runaway incursions have raised serious safety concern around the world and have resulted in fatal collision. Pilots are advised to make use of the pilots guide to runway safety and the safety net runway fact sheets. Runway incursions hot spots should be identified in each airport and marked well so that to help in the easier identification. Most of the incursions occur at five class D airports. Pilots should carefully consider the hotspots when flight planning since it will greatly reduce the risk of runway incursions. Airplanes undergo significant stress during landing and some parts often get detached letting the runway users at risk. Anew computerized approach to air port in order to help in sensing the existence of any distraction on the way. A new radar system is being installed in various if not all airports to ensure safety. Cameras which uses sensor are used to classify the objects although they are affected by the weather and time. Modern devices installed all along the runway continuously scan the surface. With the given technology these devices can detect even the smallest of items, such as screws, but the system will only issue a warning if an object remains on the runway for a long time. Proposed methodology These projects will be descriptive, retrospective and quantitative in nature. It will involve studying the pilots’ feelings towards the runaway incursions. The project will involve study of written literature concerning the runaway incursions in the targeted airports. The survey population will be 100 pilots. They will be expected to give their views on how to reduce the number of incursions. The total population of the targeted group is 310. The expected sample size will be 100 since some of the targeted pilots may be out of work that day. The collection of data will be done through the internet whereby several questions will be posted to the company’s aviation website. A pre-test will be done prior the main study to identify the participants. The data will be analyzed through the spreadsheet. There will be interviews questions to the top management of the four airports. Their information will be analyzed and help in coming up with the best ways of avoiding these incursions. Validity of the project will be reached by reducing biases. The reliability of the study will be enhanced by ensuring the accuracy. The respondents for the study will be screened by system so that non intended individuals will not take part in the process. There will be a consenting form to coercing people to participate in the study. The results will be documented and presented clearly in the project. The data will be presented using charts, graphs and tables. Conclusion In conclusion, there are four parts of preventing an incursion: clearances, communications, ground navigation and situational analysis. If one part fails, then the worst may happen. Avoiding runway incursions is a team effort between the controllers, responsible to coordinate traffic, pilots responsible for aircraft safety and the ground personnel in the air port operations. There are three broad factors that lead to runway incursions. Operational errors: actions of an air traffic controller that results in less than required minimum separation between aircraft and obstacles. Clearing an aircraft to take off or land on a closed runway. Pilot deviations: actions of a pilot that defiles any Federal Aviation Regulation. Vehicle, animal or pedestrian deviation: pedestrians entering any portion of the airport movement areas without authorization from air traffic control. Runaway incursion should be avoided in all airports in order to minimize the number of accidents recorded. The various factors contributing to the occurrence of the runaway incursions should be controlled. People should be made aware of how the runaway incursions occur and hence alerted on how to avoid. All stakeholders should be made responsible incase of the occurrence of the incursions. Most of the companies should make the occurrence of the safety team who are experts in dealing with the incursions. The project will play a great deal in controlling such occurrences at the airport. The project should be embraced by the relevant authorities so that to ensure minimal incursions takes place and also their effects should be reduced. The program outcomes have been well used in this project and have helped to achieve its goals. References Abeyratne R. I. (2012). Air navigation law. Berlin: Springer Berlin. Costello J.F. (2010).Runway safety: an update: congressional hearing. VT: Ashgate. Dillingham G. L. (2009). Aviation safety: FAA has increased efforts to address runway. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Dixon L. E. (2009). Actions taken and needed to improve FAA's runways safety area. New York NY: Chelsea House. Proctor P. (2000). New head up tool aims to cut runway incidents, aviation week and space technology. Philadelphia: Gowey press. Rankin J. and Mattson P. (1997). Controller interface for controller pilot data link communications .in proceedings of the 16th digital avionics systems conference .Maryland: Baltimore press. Young S. and Jones D. (1998). Runway incursion prevention using an advanced surface movement guidance and control system. Philadelphia: Gowey Press. Read More