What is a runway incursion?
The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) defines a runway incursion (RI) as the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of the airport surface designated for the landing and takeoff of aircraft. The image here shows an example of a runway incursion. In this example, one of the aircraft crosses the hold short line and enters the active runway, thus conflicting with another aircraft on takeoff roll on the same runway.
The FAA defines three sources of runway incursions:
- Operational Incident (OI): Runway incursions due to the action of the air traffic controller (ATC).
- Example: ATC clearing an aircraft to land on a closed runway.
- Pilot Deviation (PD): Runway incursions due to action of a pilot which violates any FAA regulation.
- Example: Pilot of a taxiing aircraft crossing a runway without clearance.
- Vehicle/Pedestrian Deviation (VPD): Runway incursions due to vehicles or pedestrians entering into a movement area without clearance from ATC.
Runway incursions are a decades old problem
The runway incursion that occurred between two Boeing 747s about 40 years ago at Tenerife is still the most deadly accident in aviation history. Given the frequency of runway incursions, there is a high chance of a catastrophic runway collision in the near future. The timeline shows some of the significant runway incursion accidents in history.
