Posts about stuff relating to airports
Wasting Time on Runway Direction Variation Changes
A news story on Twitter (via @Speedbird_NCL) caught my eye the other day. The gist of it was that due to fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field, the numbers assigned to runways in the US were being re-designated due to changes in the runway's magnetic direction.
The Best Job in the World
I am overcome with the desire to gloat. I have, in my humble opinion, the best job in the world. Now this might be the exhaustion talking but this week has had a great mix of new experiences, further development in existing skills and a real sense of progress. The reason I'm exhausted is that my schedule this week has been chaotic. I've worked on average only 11 hours or so for each of the first three days this week but those hours have included evenings, mornings and a fair bit of back of the clock "flying".
The Customer is Always...
When I started this blog, I was all about airside. I was an aerodrome inspector, after all, and for me, it was all about the planes. Then I went and got a job running an airport and I had to start worrying about that other category of customer, passengers. Generally, our airport operates smoothly. We have a very high percentage of routine travellers who know the drill and probably even know the staff. Actually, now that I think about it, that could lead to complacency if we are not careful.
Alternative Vehicle Marking Options
While I'm not a fan, the Australian MOS 139 does permit the marking of vehicle operating on the manoeuvring area with a flag. I haven't seen one in the wild but this video caught my eye the other night.
Talking Taxiway Safety....Again
Okay, I'm going to claim, tongue-in-cheek, that I told you so. Two years ago, I suggested that the next global initiative should be Taxiway Safety. While Runway Safety was getting and continues to get its due attention, there had been a spate of ground collisions involving large jets at US Airports.
Image credit - (cc) Doug Letterman
Noun-based Regulation
The modern world is definitely in love with its noun-based activities. Each week, a paradigm-shifting approach to some human endeavour is announced with a title like value-based health care or outcome-based education. When I delve into the details, I am generally left either confused as to what they are selling or how they are different at all. Regulation is no different. Just plugging "based regulation" into Google yields, on the first page alone, principle-based, results-based, performance-based, outcomes-based and output-based regulatory approaches.
Trust & Accountability
Recently, I sat in on a presentation on a subject I know quite a bit about. I like doing this as it is typically good to get a different perspective on a familiar subject. In this instance, it wasn't so much the actual subject matter but a couple of associated topics which got stuck in my mind.
Vegetation & Habitat Control
I've been doing a bit of clearing of land at my airport to make way for a new fence. We've had to expand our borders to accommodate those new instrument approach procedures I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Given that the airport is in "the bush", this meant knocking over a few trees to construct the new fence and make the new airside area completely manageable using tractors and mowers. So, we broke out the relatively cute D-6 dozer and set about clearing the new airport boundary and land.
Header image: Skitterphoto (via Pexels)
All Training Courses are not to be Considered Equal
This is probably my first real whinge post. But last week, I spent a good 9 hours on a Sunday in a training course that was a huge waste of time. And this was vital training - gun safety.
Header image: Karolina Grabowska (via Pexels)
Someone is always watching...
Airports are at the nexus of high visibility and idle time. We invite people to transit through our facilities. We provide windows for them to watch the action. We make them wait (hopefully not too long).
Header image: Oleg Magni (via Pexels)
Setting the Standard
This is me coming up for breath. I've been in the deep-end of airport operations for the last 10 months or so and I'm only just getting my head above water. I think (or at least hope) I've achieved a lot over the last couple of months but very little has been blog-worthy. However, over the last week or so, I've been swimming in that lovely little pool called Wildlife Hazard Management. And while I was re-writing my airport's Wildlife Hazard Management Plan, I stumbled across something I thought worthy of a share.
A World without Reason
Recently, I have felt like I'm in danger of becoming complacent with the bedrock of my chosen field. I'll admit that in the past, I've been fairly vocal about this bedrock's limitations and mantra-like recitation by aviation safety professionals the world over. But the recent apparent abandonment of this concept by one of the first Australian organisations to go "all-in" on it, gave me cause for reflection. I am, if you haven't guessed it, talking about the "Reason Model" or "Swiss Cheese Model".
Unnecessary Segregation or Pragmatic Isolation?
I've been out in the "real" world for the past six months or so and in that time, my thinking on risk management has changed a little bit. So here it comes, a confession... I have being using a PIG recently and I have felt its use has probably helped with effective management of overall risk.
No Man is an Island
I've been a bit out of the loop over the past couple of months as I try to get a handle on my new job and the (almost overwhelming) responsibility that goes along with it. But I can't ignore the action over at the Federal Senate's Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee's inquiry into Aviation Accident Investigations.
Image by https://fshoq.com
BTIII: Assessing Uncertainty
I can't lie to you. I have been turning myself inside out trying to get a handle on risk evaluation in the aviation safety sphere for close to five years now and I still don't feel any closer to an answer. And I say "an" answer and not "the" answer. Since you are always assessing risk in terms of your objectives, there can and will be multiple approaches to assessing the risk of the same scenario depending on whether you are considering your safety, financial or legal objectives.
Systems Modelling
When I joined the aviation safety regulator I was introduced to the concept of systems-based auditing (SBA). Before this I had been carrying out aerodrome inspections and I thought becoming an Aerodrome Inspector for the government was going to be more of the same. How wrong I was! Even after four years, my concept of systems-based auditing is still evolving. I coming to discover, and it seems everything I read will attest, that most things in life tend to be more complex than we initially think - SBA is no different.
Image credit: Jeremy Waterhouse (via Pexels)
Integrating Runway Safety Teams with your Safety Management System
I've just spent an amazing week in Bali1 workshopping with operators and regulators from the Asia-Pacific region (and some from further afield) on the issue of runway safety. We got a lot of good information from the Flight Safety Foundation, ICAO and COSCAP as well as airlines, airports and regional regulators.
The primary objective of the week was to provide information on and practice in the establishment and conduct of Local Runway Safety Teams (LRSTs). To this end, the seminars and workshop were great but I left feeling like one connection had been missed. The final question on my mind and many others, I am sure, was:
How do these runway safety initiatives integrate into my SMS?
Kaboom!
A long time ago I blogged about the risk posed by unexploded ordnance. Well, last week Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands had to deal with that very problem.
Check out the video here…