Flight Training - October 2011 - 48

CAREER PILOT»

TECH TALK

RUNWAY INCURSION PREVENTION hard to implement new procedures and
Coming to an airport near you
» By Jared Dirkmaat

takeoff of aircraft.” The FAA has worked technologies to help reduce and prevent runway incursions. One such procedure was the implementation of a change of phraseology from “position and hold” to “line up and wait.” Some new technology that may still be unfamiliar is becoming more prominent around the United States. Airport surface detection equipment, Model X, or ASDE-X, is ground-based traffic monitoring that provides ATC with location information for taxiing aircraft. ASDE-X is a fusion of information from surface movement radar, multilateration sensors, ADS-B sensors, and aircraft and vehicle transponders. This provides the controller with position and identification information of each aircraft on the ground. It can be invaluable in low-visibility situations or at night. The system can also produce aural and visual warnings of possible collisions. What does this mean for the pilot? Airports that incorporate the ASDE-X system will request you to operate your Mode C transponder while on all runways and taxiways. Look in the Airport/Facility Directory to find if your destination utilizes ASDE-X. Runway status lights, or RWSL, is a system comprised of sensors and lights that can show the pilot if a runway is occupied or otherwise unsafe. Combined with ASDE-X technology, it can detect when aircraft or vehicles are occupying, crossing, departing, or landing on a runway. It provides status of the runway by use of runway entrance lights, takeoff hold lights, and runway intersection lights. These lights are in the pavement and show a line of red lights either across the entrance to the runway or alongside the centerline for takeoff hold lights. When the lights are illuminated pilots are advised not to enter or cross the runway or take off when given a “line up and wait” clearance. Both technologies will increase safety as well as efficiency and capacity at U.S. airports. We pilots must ensure constant vigilance and situational awareness to help prevent runway incursions.

THE INTERNATIONAL CIVIL Aviation Organization defines a runway incursion as “any occurrence at an aerodrome involv-

ing the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and

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Flight Training - October 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - October 2011