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DOT Warns Of Airport Safety Issues

New report highlights problems on the runways

March 11, 2009

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Airline passengers may be safer in the air than on the ground. A new report by the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General has highlighted runway safety problems at nearly a dozen major U.S. Airports and holds out little hope the problems can be fixed anytime soon.

"Runway incidents continue to be a substantial threat to safety," said DOT Inspecgtor General Calvin Scovel, in testimony before a Congressional Committee.

Scovel said a specific concern is runway incursions, defined as any incident involving an unauthorized aircraft, vehicle, or person on a runway.

"Since 2003, the number of runway incursions has begun climbing again, reaching a high of 370 in Fiscal Year 2007, a 13-percent increase over Fiscal Year (FY) 2004," Scovel said. "Under FAA's new definition for categorizing runway incursions, the number of runway incursions continues to rise even more dramatically, with a 38-percent increase since FY 2004."

He noted there were 25 serious runway incursions in FY 2008.

Airports in Baltimore; Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Fort Lauderdale, Florida.; Los Angeles,New York City, Philadelphia; Phoenix; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C. Were singled out as having safety issues.

The Inspector General's report notes that at Chicago Midway an airliner skidded off the runway in late 2005 while landing in icy conditions. Eighteen people aboard the plane were hurt but four others on the ground were killed when the plane ended up on a busy street.

At Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, a Southwest Airways jet overran the runway while landing, injuring 44 people on board. The report sites Los Angeles International Airport for not having adequate "safety zones" on the runways and tarmac.

In fact, the Federal Aviation Administration has written up more than 1,000 U.S. Airports for falling short of required safety zones. The agency said that in more than 400 of those cases, the failures pose a threat to passengers.

The report concludes that the cited airports will have difficulty in meeting a Congressional mandate to resolve runway safety issues by 2015.

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