US: Close calls on US airport runways rise sharply

Hazardous runway incidents at US airports in fiscal 2016 increased for a third year in a row, significantly exceeding federal safety targets in five of the months and climbing 25% overall from a year earlier. Both the raw numbers and frequency of the most dangerous types of close calls on the ground rose substantially in the federal fiscal year ended Sept. 30, according to preliminary government data that hasn’t yet been widely distributed. The rise came despite stepped-up federal and industry efforts to reverse the trend. FAA officials said in total, there were more than 1,560 instances nationwide when planes came closer than permitted to each other, or to vehicles, on the tarmac. That is up from about 1,450 in fiscal 2015 and roughly 1,250 in 2013 and 2014. For the latest year, the rate of the highest-risk incidents, adjusted for monthly fluctuations in air traffic, barely met the agency’s long-established internal limit of about four “runway incursions” per 10m flights; they substantially exceeded the limit in five of the 12 months. The FAA’s strategic plan calls for compliance with that cap through at least September 2017. The comparable rate for fiscal 2015 came in at roughly three serious events per 10m flights, and hovered well below the rate stretching back to 2013.<br/>