At Dallas/Fort Worth Inter-national Airport, executive VP of operations Jim Crites and his team are leading the way when it comes to runway safety initiatives. The airport recently broke ground on a revolutionary perimeter taxiway system (see page 9) that has received accolades from top FAA and NTSB officials. The first quadrant of the project is expected to be operational in the fall of 2008.
According to Crites, the Inter-national Civil Aeronautics Organization (ICAO) has recommended that airports around the world adopt the practices of DFW's Runway Safety Action Team — comprised of airline officials, FAA, and the airport.
Allen Parra, VP of operations, says that DFW has partnered with FAA for several years as a demonstration airport for Runway Status Lights (RWSL), also installed at San Diego International. RWSL, according to FAA, is a fully automatic advisory safety system designed to reduce the number and severity of runway incursions — while not interfering with airport operations. FAA's Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) developed RWSL, aimed at improving crew and vehicle operator situational awareness through accurate and timely indication of runway usage.
The RWSL system is tied into the AMASS (airport movement area safety system) or ASDE-X (airport surface detection equipment) system at an airport, explains Parra (DFW has AMASS). When there is an incursion or an encroachment by an aircraft that is not cleared to cross a runway, the system alarms and notifies the aircraft of the encroachment with a series of lights.
Crites says the technology has matured to a level where it has been tested and proven to offer benefits to airfield safety. Airports, in partnership with FAA, are now able to leverage existing technologies to develop new uses that will benefit both the safety and efficiency of an airport.
One issue that still exists is funding. Crites says he's confident that FAA Administrator Marion Blakey understands the needs of the air traffic control system and the operations area of the airport, both near-term and into the next generation.
