“TECHNOLOGY GAP”
The Washington-based foundation has found that breakdowns in communication and coordination can play a role in runway crashes or near misses.
But a shortage of electronics to avoid collisions on the ground, rather than in the air where software to trigger avoidance has been available since the 1980s, is also a concern.
“Many of the serious incidents could have been avoided through better situational awareness technologies that can help air traffic controllers and pilots detect potential runway conflicts,” Shahidi said.
The Federal Aviation Administration says some three dozen US airports are fitted with a system called ASDE-X that uses radar, satellites and a navigation tool called multilateration to track ground movements.
But National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said in November the US aviation network – a bellwether for airports worldwide – lacks sufficient technology to prevent runway incursions.
In 2018, Airbus said it was working with Honeywell on a system called SURF-A or Surface-Alert designed to help prevent runway collisions.
But no date for implementation has yet been announced and rolling out complex new aviation systems can take years.
Far-reaching reforms of European and US air traffic networks that could accelerate the use of such computerised systems have faced chronic delays.
Airbus and Honeywell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Steve Creamer, a former senior director at the International Civil Aviation Organization, said preventing a landing aircraft striking a plane is among the top five global safety priorities.
Although automated landings are increasing, experts say much still depends on visual checks by pilots who may be distracted by a high workload or the blur of a night-time runway.
“I think the investigation will focus a lot on the clearances … and then also what the (JAL) crew could see. Could they physically see that airplane on the runway,” said former US air accident investigator John Cox.
Lighting was an issue in a 1991 collision between a USAir plane and SkyWest Airlines aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport in California, for example.
“One of the things that came out of that was that the USAir crew physically could not see the SkyWest Metroliner there. Although it was on the runway, the lighting was such that you … physically couldn’t see it,” he said.
Source: CNA
