Airports Increase Runway Safety Efforts

Airports are responding to the call to redouble their runway safety improvements, even as the industry struggles to tackle long-standing challenges that range from improving training to securing adequate funding for major projects. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) first Most Wanted List, published in 1990, included lessening the risk of runway incursions. In 2007, the NTSB modified its runway safety initiative and underscoring the need to develop a direct cockpit warning system to warn pilots of potential collisions with other aircraft. This article provides an overview of recent efforts by the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to increase runway safety and discusses the Call to Action Program recently instituted by the FAA to reduce runway incidents.