Posts about stuff relating to airports
Video: Taxiway Collision in Turkey
A long, long time ago, I almost jokingly suggested that we should be looking at Taxiway Safety as much as Runway Safety. But in the nearly seven years since I posted it, I've seen a steady stream of taxiway collisions across the world. The latest in Turkey provided some spectacular visuals and luckily no one was hurt.
Image credit: pixabay
Air Canada Taxiway Overfly: Investigating Incidents
In almost a teaser to a post I have coming out on Monday, the NTSB has just released all the factual information it has collected in its investigation of an incident that occurred last year at San Fransisco involving an Air Canada A320. As you can see from the video that they released yesterday, this was a very close call. Even though there were no injuries or deaths or damage, it represents a great opportunity for examination and learning. Unfortunately, my post on Monday discusses a couple of missed opportunities.
Image by Brian Bukowski
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.
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
Doing the Right Thing for the Right Reasons
A couple of weeks ago a question came into the Aerodromes Inspectorate at work regarding the accuracy of airline scales at airports. In Australia, that's not necessarily an airport operator's responsibility and is not covered by our aerodrome regulations. Anyway, that's not the point of this post. This earlier event made me notice this story from the LA Times on the same topic, so I read with interest to see what other countries do. I couldn't exactly work out whether it was the airport or airlines responsibility but in Los Angeles at least, a government department comes in to give the scales the big tick of approval. But the angle of the story was what really stood out.
Image credit: Jens Johnsson (via Pexels)
Guyana & Runway Safety
This week's news of a runway excursion in the South American country of Guyana got me thinking of the current focus on runway safety. So, I turned my mind to writing something on the subject. Unfortunately, I turned too slowly and Andy Pasztor at the Wall Street Journal beat me to it! Thats what I get for having a day job :(.
Header image: Jonathan Borba (via Pexels)
The Simian Menace
There's more whacky animal-airport news this week. This time, its India with a rampaging group of monkeys sending aircraft on go-arounds! This story has got the works - poor planning in the placement of a garbage dump nearby, the hard work being done by airport staff to mitigate the risk as best they can and the need for a coordinated response with some success.
Header image: Jimmy Chan (via Pexels)
Next Global Initiative: Taxiway Safety?
Last month I mentioned the widespread attention being paid to runway safety (runway incursions, excursions etc.) but over the last few months, and the last few weeks in particular, we've had quite a few high-profile taxiway accidents. So much so that maybe the next global safety initiative will be taxiway safety (excursions, clearances, traffic etc.). Recent Boo-boos
Image credit: Marina Hinic
Unusual Wildlife Hazards Update
It appears that the reptilian conspiracy is real and it intends on shutting down the world's airports. First, it was geckos in the Australian outback and now its turtles in New York!
Image credit: David Dibert (via Pexels)
"a sweep of the runway collected more than 20 bird carcasses"
I spied a couple of news reports of a mass bird-strike at DFW Airport today and the above quote jumped out at me. The procedure for checking the runway following a bird-strike is not required under Australian regulations and is not always included in the aerodrome manual - despite being a really, very, really good idea.
Topic of the Month: Runway Safety
The stories surrounding runway safety (i.e. runway incursions, excursions etc.) have been coming out steadily in the lead up to and following the global runway safety symposium. The stats formed the call to action and the responses have included the technological, the educational, the multi-disciplinary and the collaborative.
A Really Old Bomb Scare
As I've travelled around I've heard my fair share of stories of underground bunkers, gun placements and even possible ammunition caches. Perhaps these stories should be included in the aerodrome's risk register which had been developed as part of it safety management system. For any WWII-era aerodrome, I don't think this scenario is beyond serious consideration.
Apron Rampage
This story, to me at least, falls well into the security sphere which I tend to consider somewhat separate from safety. The difference between the two would make for an interesting discussion (maybe one to revisit later) but I usually consider security to encompass events involving an agent from outside of the aviation system intent on causing harm to it or within it. Of course there are exceptions to aspects of my definition - for example the security threat may come from the inside and the issues surrounding such events may straddle the security/safety disciplines.
What if ... the NOTAM system went down?
A great deal of risk/hazard identification is running through "what if" scenarios. Obviously, the big one is "what if an aircraft crashed?" but others include "what if the lights failed?" and "what if key staff left?" A tweet and associated webpage from the NBAA got me thinking about this scenario - "what if the NOTAM system went down?" Granted, the linked scenario is planned maintenance but it still requires consideration and maybe so does it's unplanned alternative scenario.
Header image: Kaique Rocha (via Pexels)