If the coast guard plane went onto the tarmac, it would be an example of a dangerous, albeit common occurrence, called a runway incursion.
On most occasions it passes without a problem and is labelled an aviation incident: An event that happened with no impact. Sometimes, though, they result in accidents, with a collision or damage. Accidents get reported to authorities while incidents may not – so it’s hard to track the scale of the problem globally.
CLOSE CALLS
Data from the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization indicates that almost 60 per cent of all accidents are related to runway safety, well ahead of loss of control in flight, which was present in around 30 per cent (an event can have more than one cause).
Of greatest concern is that the level of runway incursions has remained stable over the past decade, at a rate of just under five per day in the United States, instead of dropping in line with improved broader aviation safety.
Among the nearly 16,000 runway incursions recorded by the Federal Aviation Administration over the past decade, 63 per cent occurred due to pilot deviation – meaning the pilot broke federal aviation rules, such as crossing a runway without clearance. Actions by air traffic control were the second-biggest cause, accounting for 18 per cent.
“The most dangerous incursions, the closest calls, appear to be on the rise,” Jennifer Homendy, Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told a conference on runway safety in May. Among recent incidents she recalled was one in February last year. A cargo plane aborted a landing in Austin, Texas, when the pilot saw a passenger jet with 131 people on board in its path on the ground ahead. The two aircraft got within 35m of each other.
That near miss is eerily similar to what happened in Tokyo.
Source: CNA
