Centerlines - April 2008 - (Page 40) ON MANAGEMENT To aid in training, airport director Robert Duncan said the airport is currently evaluating the possibility of investing in a driving training simulator. “We haven’t gotten around to determining how much it’s going to cost or how we’re going to fund it, but that’s the type of stuff we like to evaluate and if it has a positive spin, we very well may do it. But right now it’s in the discussions stage.” we don’t find ourselves getting at loggerheads over certain stances or situations…because that’s oftentimes counterproductive to moving things forward,” Duncan explained. “We spend a fair amount of time relationship-building.” And, said Duncan, “We try to cut down on bureaucracy. If Mike or his team finds something that needs to be fixed, Mike has the authority and discretion to go get it fixed without having to run through three or four layers of approval. If it’s a safety item it needs to be fixed.” Added Medvescek, “The support that we get concerning safety and security starts at the top with the airport director and trickles down to everyone. So when we know top management is supporting what we’re doing here at the airport, it makes it much easier for us to do our job. We’re not second-guessing each other on the cost or the timeline; we just take care of it.” one of roughly 20 airports involved. Other airports include Baltimore/ Washington International, Dallas/ Fort Worth International, SeattleTacoma International, and Boston Logan International. An SMS is designed to be a systematic, proactive, and well-defined safety program. The pilot program, according to FAA, “will allow airports and FAA to gain experience establishing airport-specific SMSs that are tailored for the individual airport. This experience will provide SMS best practices and lessons learned that the FAA can use as it considers whether to incorporate SMS into Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 139, Certification of Airports.” While AIP funds are available to airports in the pilot to create an SMS, Indianapolis is one airport that has not taken federal funds for the project. It is expected the pilot program will be completed in the fall of this year. FAA’s Molinaro explained that an SMS benefits an airport operator in that with an SMS, the airport is looking at its operations area with the same eyes that an inspector would and therefore is able to address potential problems before they become Part 139 infractions. Medvescek said his team has been doing SMS “for years and really didn’t know what it was called. It was just a safety enhancement to the airport,” he said, and something that has aided in the clean Part 139 inspections. Indianapolis’s SMS has been successful, said Medvescek, because of its risk assessment/safety manager on staff which allows the airport to identify potential risks and take a proactive approach. “[There can be] pushback from some airports because they think if you identify risks, then you put yourself liable for the risk. I see it the other way around. The risk has always been there—if you identify it, it shows that we’re being proactive by addressing and mitigating the risk instead of being reactive.” Top-Down Support for Airport Safety The airport’s rapport with the air traffic controllers has also helped the airport reach its safety milestone, said Medvescek. Monthly meetings facilitate this positive working relationship, he says. “Many airports I talk to, the airport operators and the FAA tower never see eye to eye. It’s always personnel issues or procedure issues,” he adds. That positive relationship has been especially crucial in recent years with the construction of a new FAA Air Traffic Control tower and a 1.2-million-square-foot terminal. “There’s construction everywhere,” Medvescek observed. “We have worked very well with no issues.” And that’s a challenge in itself with multiple contractors working on an active airfield. Medvescek said the airport carefully planned the construction at the airport in its safety-phasing plan to eliminate any potential problems that might arise with taxiway or runway restrictions. This is another instance where communication played a key role, he added. “We all know what’s going on.” From winter operations to construction updates, the key is keeping all parties at the airport informed, Medvescek stressed. Weekly operations and maintenance team meetings allow employees to voice concerns or recommendations, he said, further encouraging open communication. “We try to maintain a good relationship with everybody so that Wildlife Management Wildlife management at Indianapolis also plays a role in achieving clean Part 139 inspections, said Medvescek. The airport has a wildlife biologist stationed at the airfi eld operations building year-round who provides the operations and maintenance personnel with training and information on birds and mammals that might be on the airport. Shortly after 9/11, said Medvescek, the airport installed a ten-foot fence around the operations area, with another two feet of razor wire on top of that. Additionally, a two-foot concrete rat wall was installed so that coyotes or other animals could not dig underneath the fence. According to Duncan, the airport used to have a substantial deer population, but has not had a deer on the airport property since the fence was installed. FAA’s SMS Pilot Program FAA is conducting the Safety Management System (SMS) Pilot Program, with which Indianapolis is 40 CENTERLINES | APRIL 2008
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