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By Hugh Cameron
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Narrowly avoided plane crashes serve as a reminder of the need for vigilance by pilots and air traffic controllers, and emphasize the importance of proper oversight by regulatory agencies.
Each near miss is recorded on a database by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has revealed a surprisingly high occurrence of so-called "runway incursions."
According to the FAA, in the 12 months ended May 31, the total number of runway incursions reached 1,115. They ranged from serious close calls to "Category D" incidents, in which a person or vehicle is present on a surface designated for an aircraft, but posed no significant safety risk.
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Some 183 "operational incidents" were reported, where the actions of an air traffic controller resulted in a plane coming closer than is permitted to either an aircraft or another obstacle, and 706 "pilot deviations" occurred, in which a pilot violates FAA regulations in taking off or landing, doing so without receiving the necessary clearance.
Alongside 27 unclassified incidents, 199 deviations were required to avoid pedestrians or vehicles that had made their way onto runways without authorization from air traffic control.
On the positive side, on all counts the figures were down from 2023. In the 2023 fiscal year, in which the FAA estimates there were around 54.4 million takeoffs and landings in U.S. airspace, there were 1,760 total runway incursions.
The 2024 total of 1,115 is also the lowest level on record since 954 in 2011.
More critically, the FAA has reported a sharp drop in Category A cases, defined as: "A serious incident in which a collision was narrowly avoided."
While there were seven such incidents in 2023, March saw the only significant close call in the FAA's whole 12-month reporting period for 2024, when a Diamond DA42 four-seater made an unauthorized landing, and came within 50 feet of a Cessna 172 taking off from Hector International Airport in Fargo, North Dakota.
While outside the FAA's 2024 timeframe, two jets came close to colliding over Syracuse, New York, last Monday.
Air traffic control mistakenly approved an American Airlines for landing on the same runway as a departing Delta Airlines flight.
Evasive maneuvers by one pilot averted a crash, but the two aircraft came within 725 feet of each other.
The FAA told Newsweek that it was investigating the Syracuse incident.
Timothy Arel, chief operating officer of the FAA's Air Traffic Organization, spoke before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in November, which had been convened to address the high level of near-misses in 2023.
Arel began by highlighting the holistic way potentially severe runway incursions must be addressed.
"Collectively, air traffic controllers, pilots, commercial operators, general aviation, and airports all play an important role in minimizing risk within the system," Arel told the subcommittee members.
Arel said that any form of runway incursion is taken seriously by the FAA, and that the regulator has taken numerous efforts to limit these, including pilot outreach and training, investing in situational awareness technology tools, and the application of "safety management systems" across major airports.
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While the numbers show that the FAA's approach may be working, its general oversight of flights and airlines has been called into question in the wake of Boeing's recent string of safety issues.
During his testimony before a Senate subcommittee hearing in June, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker admitted that his agency had been too "hands off" in its inspections of Boeing in the past.
Earlier this month, the plane maker agreed to plead guilty to one count of defrauding the FAA, having misled the regulator into green-lighting the 737 MAX, the aircraft involved in fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes that killed 346.
Maria Cantwell, a U.S. Senator for Washington, is currently preparing new legislation to improve the FAA's oversight of plane makers, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Cantwell said that the legislation will require the FAA to use a more robust safety management system, and accused the regulator of "dropping the ball" in its handling of Boeing.
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