The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on aerospace giants Boeing and Airbus to create an advanced cockpit safety system. This new system would provide crucial alerts to pilots about potential runway conflicts, particularly situations where another aircraft is either taking off or landing on the same runway.
This recommendation emerges from the NTSB’s comprehensive analysis of a close call on January 13, 2023, at New York’s JFK Airport involving an American Airlines Boeing 777-300 and a Delta 737. According to the final report, the American Airlines flight, designated AA106, mistakenly entered an active runway, narrowly avoiding a collision with the Delta aircraft, which was initiating takeoff.
Investigators identified pilot distraction and a misjudgment in the complex network of taxiways as the primary causes of the incident. Despite JFK’s installation of two high-tech safety measures aimed at preventing such occurrences, the incident highlighted significant shortcomings.
One such measure at JFK is the runway status light system. Embedded in the tarmac at runway intersections, these lights turn a vivid red to indicate runway occupation by another aircraft. In the case of flight AA106, however, the lights only activated after the aircraft had crossed the runway threshold, rendering them invisible to the cockpit crew at a critical moment.
The ineffectiveness of the visual cues in this scenario was compounded by the darkness of the night and the dazzle of numerous other lights on the field, which obscured the pilots’ view. Fortunately, an automated alert system in the control tower flagged the dangerous situation, enabling air traffic control to urgently instruct the Delta pilots to halt their takeoff.
The NTSB’s recommendation underscores the need for a more robust, automated warning mechanism directly within the cockpit, ensuring pilots receive immediate and unmistakable notification of runway traffic conflicts, thereby enhancing overall airfield safety.