At the breakfast table, through a haze of sleepy eyes and steaming coffee, I discovered the following headline in the NY TIMES: FOR AIRLINES, RUNWAYS ARE THE DANGER ZONE (Matthew L. Wald). This looks like an amusing story, I thought, and read on, soon learning that the thousands of recently delayed and grounded flights have “raised flags about skipped airplane inspections and botched repairs to wiring.” But in spite of those generalized concerns, it’s the rapidly increased threat of “runway collisions” that has aviation specialists particularly worried.
“Where we are most vulnerable at this moment is on the ground,” the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Mark V. Rosenker, said. “To me, this is the most dangerous aspect of flying.”
While I monotonously absorbed my first jolt which led me to my second jolt of caffeine, I remained completely unsurprised and unmoved by these revelations. It should have been obvious to anyone within a twenty mile radius of a major airport that flights are circling and landing practically nose to tail. Someone behind the wheel of a car would (in theory, at least) be ticketed for tailgating in that close-knit fashion. If this crowded swarm of activity goes on in the sky, imagine the situation on the runways themselves.
“For the six-month period that ended March 30,” the article stated, “there were 15 serious ‘runway incursions’ compared with 8 in a period a year earlier.” The problems continue despite the FAA’s efforts to improve the situation, from pilot training to that of technology, at airports. Nonetheless, a recent decision by the FAA will probably delay a “new generation” of technology for surveillance and navigation for about ten years.
By this time I had guzzled down my third cup of coffee and was contemplating my first glass of Jack Daniels (even though I usually drink only on special occasions: such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Election Day). Then again, why should I worry? As I wrote in my last post (MEN WITH GUNS AND DOGS), currently, within NYC’s subterranean playground (aka subway system) I have Commando Joe protecting me. If the railways and byways and hallways of New York City are safe and secure, the nation’s runways are a mere trifle.
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April 27th, 2008 - 6:38 am
Hilarious choice for a picture at the end! But wow – I knew I was unnerved up in the air, I did not know this about the runway dangers. Still, if you’re going to have an “incursion,” I’d rather be on the ground.
April 27th, 2008 - 6:40 am
Oh my gosh, yes, the second picture was pretty hilarious, too!
April 28th, 2008 - 4:20 am
I agree with you, Suzann, and would prefer the ground to the air in the event of a disaster. Nevertheless, history’s worst aviation disaster didn’t occur in the sky but indeed on the ground.
From Wikipedia: “On March 27, 1977 at 17:06:56 local time (also UTC) when two Boeing 747 airliners collided at Los Rodeos Airport (now known as Tenerife North Airport) on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Five hundred and eighty-three people were killed, the highest number of fatalities (excluding ground fatalities) of any single accident in aviation history… The aircraft involved were the 747s of Pan American World Airways Flight 1736 (the Clipper Victor) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight 4805… Taking off on the only runway of the airport, the KLM flight crashed into the Pan Am aircraft taxiing in the opposite direction on the same runway.”
I saw this re-enacted on SECONDS TO DISASTER some time ago (it’s currently on Google Video) and it’s really something. One could argue that it was a freaky, once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, but so was 9/11…arguably, at least.