NCAA DG, Harold Demuren

By Chinedu Eze

The Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren has said that many air accidents could be attributed to runway operations, either at landing or taking off of the aircraft.

He stated this on Tuesday in Lagos during his speech to mark open a seminar on Runway Safety and Pavement Maintenance, noting that as air traffic increases there is potential for more runway related accidents.

“ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) data show that, over the past five years, one –third of all aviation accidents have been linked to runway operations. As air traffic increases, the potential for runway accidents also will increase, and we have to act now to develop and implement proved technological and operational solutions that will make sure we improve upon our remarkable safety record.”

Demuren said that ICAO has introduced safety initiatives aimed at reducing runway-related accidents.

“The initiatives were endorsed in late May 2011 by ICAO member states, IATA (International Air Transport Association), and the Flight Safety Foundation during the first meeting of the ICAO Global Runway Safety Symposium held in Montreal, Canada.”

He  said that there were clear understanding on the roles and responsibilities of each of the partners in reducing and working toward eliminating runway incursions and excursion, noting that a multidisciplinary approach became the only option for coming to grips with a complex set of operational and human factors issues.

“The initiatives include runway safety seminars to be held around the world to help develop regional action plans and encourage the formation of runway safety teams that will involve airlines, airports and air navigation service providers.”

The director-general also emphasised that most of the recent runway incursions have been attributed to loss of situational awareness and failure of pilots to comply with instructions from air traffic control, noting that the problem of runway incursions touches many parts of an air carrier’s organization, thus it deserves attention at all levels of air carrier management and line operations.

He said that through continued management emphasis and specific training for pilots and maintenance personnel, air carriers could instil permanent and effective understanding of the runway incursion problem and the means to eliminate it.

The Director General therefore recommended that pilots, maintenance personnel and ground personnel review airport signage, markings and lighting, as well as airport diagrams, notices to airmen and automatic terminal information service broadcasts to ensure that they are aware of any taxiway or runway closures, construction activities and other related risks.

Other recommendations called for increased attention to situational awareness, better use of crew resource management and proper radio communication and compliance with appropriate taxi techniques.

He also urge operators, directors of safety, training and maintenance and chief pilots, maintenance personnel as well as other personnel involved in taxiing aircraft or operating vehicles within the airport operation area to include runway incursion prevention in all training programs and to track runway incursion trends to determine need for review of causes accidents.

“Other efforts call for the compilation and further development of best practices and the greater sharing of information among ICAO member states and industry. One of the first requirements include the development of common definitions, metrics and methods of analysis to enable more complete information sharing, as well as the improved reporting of operational hazards.”

He said that in addition to that, ICAO and its partners in the efforts will develop multidisciplinary guidance material and training workshops.

“One early product of the collaborative effort to reduce runway accidents is the Runway Excursion Risk Reduction Toolkit – in which the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) played a key role – which includes training modules, videos, best practices and other information presented in an interactive
format.”

He  observed that studies conducted more than a decade ago identifies a connection between growth in air traffic and an increase in runway incursions, “with one studying particular demonstrating that a traffic increase of 20 per cent could result in as much as a 140 per cent jump in the risk of a runway
incursion.”

“These projections spurred work on the FSF tool kit, which was first issued in 2005, and on related efforts, including a global agreement on a new definition of runway incursions – events involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person in the protected area of a surface designated for landing and take-off of aircraft – which enabled more meaningful analysis of runway incursion data.”

Demuren said that ICAO had continued to review and amend its requirements and guidance material to incorporate worldwide best practices for dealing with incursions and excursions, as well as events attributed to runway confusion, which occurs when flight crewmembers unintentionally use the wrong runway or a taxiway for take-off or landing.

“All three areas are, by their nature, multidisciplinary issues requiring high levels of coordination and cooperation between all stakeholders in the air transport community. Airport and aircraft operators, associations representing pilots and air traffic controllers, aircraft and avionics manufacturers, air navigation service providers and regulators all have important contributions to make and parts to play in the development of any effective runway safety solution,” he stated.