NTSB -- NTSB CHAIRMAN HIGHLIGHTS RUNWAY SAFETY AND HUMAN FATIGUE IN ADDRESS TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS

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NTSB PRESS RELEASE

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National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 23, 2010

SB-10-09

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NTSB CHAIRMAN HIGHLIGHTS RUNWAY SAFETY AND HUMAN FATIGUE IN

ADDRESS TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS

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Washington, DC - In an address to the National Air Traffic

Controllers Association (NATCA) in Orlando today, NTSB

Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman lauded controllers for their

role in keeping the number of runway incursions low while

challenging the Federal Aviation Administration to hasten

the pace of its efforts to improve runway safety.

Attributing the decline in runway related incidents and

accidents in part to "robust procedures, safe designs, and

well-trained and alert controllers and pilots," Hersman said

that "we still have a lot of work to do," and that the FAA

needs to move more aggressively to lower the risk of runway

accidents.

Hersman chaired the NTSB's February meeting in which runway

safety was again voted onto its Most Wanted List of Safety

Improvements where it has been since its inception in 1990.

The Safety Board's recommendations to the FAA includes

providing immediate warnings of probable collisions and

incursions directly to flight crews in the cockpit;

requiring specific ATC clearance for each runway crossing;

requiring operators to install cockpit moving map displays

or an automatic system that alerts pilots when a takeoff is

attempted on a taxiway or a runway other than the one

intended; and requiring a landing distance assessment with

an adequate safety margin for every landing.

Citing an ongoing investigation of an incident in which a

767 landed on a taxiway in Atlanta in October, Hersman said

that the NTSB took a strong interest in the event "because

we want to know what led a professional flight crew to

mistake a taxiway for a runway, whether the controllers

could have detected the misaligned final approach to landing

and intervened, and whether there are technological tools

that can be used to prevent such incidents from ever

occurring in the first place." Although no one was injured

in the incident, Hersman said that "if this event had

resulted in a fatal collision, there would be - far and wide

- immediate and understandable calls for changes."

Hersman also cited human fatigue as an area that the Safety

Board has become particularly focused on, saying that "We

are seeing fatigue as a causal or contributing factor in

numerous accidents across all transportation modes." The

NTSB has made recommendations to the FAA to set working hour

limits for flight crews, aviation mechanics, and air traffic

controllers, and has asked the FAA develop a fatigue

awareness and countermeasures training program for

controllers and those who schedule them for duty.

Recently, NATCA and the FAA established a working group to

collaboratively address the human fatigue issues that the

NTSB has identified. Hersman noted the significance of this

positive step by the leadership of both organizations and

called it a very encouraging development.

Concluding with an invitation for air traffic controllers to

participate in a three-day forum on pilot and controller

excellence that the NTSB will be holding in Washington in

May, Hersman emphasized the value of learning from the

numerous examples of superior job performance by

controllers. "Through our work we are very good at finding

out what went wrong, but frankly, it is just as important to

know what is going right, because we want to replicate that

throughout the entire national airspace system," she said.

The complete text of Chairman Hersman's speech may be

obtained on the Board's website at

http://www.ntsb.gov/Speeches/hersman/daph100323.html

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NTSB Media Contact: Peter Knudson

(202) 314-6100

peter.knudson@xxxxxxxx

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