April 27, 2006

Federal officials said Tuesday that they are investigating what would be the third runway safety breach in six days at O'Hare International Airport.

The latest incident occurred Sunday on the same two crisscrossing runways where air-traffic controller errors threatened to cause accidents last week, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The first runway incursion, defined as two aircraft in the same area at the same time, resulted in two planes missing each other by only 100 feet, the FAA said. It marked the most serious near-crash on the ground at any U.S. airport in several years, the FAA said.

The National Transportation Safety Board decided to send investigators to O'Hare on Monday after the second incursion--a violation of required minimum spacing between aircraft--occurred in a two-day span last week.

Then on Sunday, more trouble.

About 12:20 p.m. Sunday, a Canadair regional jet was issued a takeoff clearance on Runway 9 Left. Moments later, an Airbus A320 was cleared to take off on Runway 4 Left, said FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — As American Airlines Flight 629 rolled slowly onto the runway for departure one recent morning, it entered one of aviation's most dangerous places.

Many of the worst aviation disasters around the world have occurred on runways. Despite repeated attempts to reduce the risks, near-collisions happen in alarming numbers throughout the USA.

But on this particular day at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the pilots of the American MD-82 had the benefit of a safety system now being tested that for the first time warns pilots directly of runway perils.

As Flight 629 waited for takeoff clearance from controllers, a brilliant string of red lights embedded in the runway lit up because two other jets were crossing further down the runway. If there was any misunderstanding, the red lights made it clear that Flight 629 did not yet have permission to take off.

After a year of tests at one of the nation's busiest airports, officials with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are optimistic that the runway status light system can be approved for use at busy airports around the country.

Near-unanimous support   In the world of aviation, where new systems frequently run into problems and face criticism from users, the runway lights have received near-unanimous support from safety advocates, pilots and air-traffic controllers.

At least 76 people have died in three runway collision accidents involving commercial aircraft in the USA since 1990. More than 300 incidents a year occur on runways in this country; 30 to 50 of those are categorized as most risky, according to the FAA.

Such incidents, in which FAA investigators have determined that there was a significant risk of collision, have declined since 2000, but enough occur each year that the NTSB considers the issue one of aviation's top safety priorities.

Last month at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, three runway incidents were reported, including one that investigators considered severe. Another near-collision in Chicago in 1999 — in which two 747s came within 75 feet of a high-speed collision — prompted the NTSB to recommend a better runway warning system.

The quest for a way to warn pilots directly goes back to the early 1990s. Scientists at MIT Lincoln Laboratory experimented with runway warning lights at Boston's Logan International Airport. The system did not work well because it was difficult to track planes on the ground with radar, says Jim Eggert, who is now the laboratory's project leader in Dallas.

In the ensuing decade, however, the technology to monitor aircraft on the ground improved exponentially. Now computers can follow planes with great precision. The system was revived in Dallas, where airport officials had spent $6.4 million on a state-of-the-art system to track taxiing aircraft.

If there is a downside to the system, according to Loewen and others, it is that it may take several years to receive final permission and funding from the FAA.

The basis for the system, computers that track planes on the ground, was supposed to be put into 35 airports, but budget shortfalls have slowed its deployment.

Loewen says air-traffic controllers don't understand why it's taking so long. Those who work in a tower on the other side of the airport, where the lights are not in operation, want the system installed there, too, he says.

Mohammed Ghanim Al Ghaith, the Director-General of the General Civil Aviation Authority, announced yesterday the completion of the accident report Kish Air Fokker 50 aircraft, in which only three passengers survived.

The aircraft, which was registered in the Islamic Republic of Iran, had departed from Kish Island, Iran and, while on the final approach to runway 12 at Sharjah International Airport, was observed to suddenly pitch down and spiral into the ground. The aircraft impacted on vacant land in a residential area, but fortunately, there were no injuries to people on the ground, nor damage to property. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is the competent authority responsible for the investigation of aircraft accidents within the UAE. The GCAA immediately established an investigation to conduct full and comprehensive investigation into this accident. The team was assisted by representatives of the operator, the Iranian Civil Aviation authorities, component manufacturers, French Bureau of Accident Investigation, and the Sharjah Airport Authority.

As a result of this investigation, and in an effort to improve flight safety generally, the GCAA has also recommended that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) consider the installation of crash-protected video recorders on aircraft used in commercial air transport operations. The final report into this accident will be released to the appropriate authorities in accordance with international obligations.

John Lovell with the National Transportation Safety Board declined to say when the two-engine Beechcraft Duke was last inspected, but he said there were "no entries" in the maintenance log to indicate that it had the required check in the past year.

"We’ve adapted the tools and strategies developed by the commercial nuclear power and aviation industries," commented PPI’s Founder and President Tim Autrey, "and are making them directly available to the healthcare community. While medical professionals are working diligently to solve longer term safety and quality issues, these tools and strategies can be quickly implemented. Once they’re in place, a large percentage of the mistakes currently occurring will be eliminated."

About 42 million prescriptions for sleeping pills were filled in the United States in 2005, an increase of almost 60 percent since 2000, according to research company IMS Health. Some experts worry that sleeping pills are being overused and that prescribing doctors may be ignoring depression and other conditions that cause sleep problems. In the first 11 months of 2005, drug makers spent $298 million on sleeping pill ads in the United States, more than four times the amount spent in all of 2004. It is reported that 10 percent of Americans say they regularly have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. (Forbes.com, " U.S. Sleeping Pill Use Growing Rapidly" February 7, 2006.

Given the obstacles of attaining restorative sleep during the day, you might assume that sleeping pills would be more popular among shiftworkers than day workers. However, the limited data on the subject does not support this claim. While the use of stimulants among workers in extended hours operations is reported to be twice that of the general population, the use of sleeping pills is about the same as the general population. Regardless, before a shiftworker seeks a prescription sleeping pill to help with sleep, they should be informed of strategies they can take to improve daytime sleep.