Scary Runways, Scary Skies
Posted on: Monday, 25 July 2005, 12:00 CDT
For travelers, reports of near collisions on the runway send a jolt up the spine. Such incidents are admittedly rare. But there is no such thing as rare enough when you're strapped into your seat and waiting for takeoff.
Two weeks ago, an Israir passenger jet wandered onto the wrong runway at Kennedy Airport in New York, into the path of a cargo plane accelerating for takeoff. Spotting the looming disaster, the pilot of the cargo plane got airborne early, skimming over the top of the passenger jet.
On June 9, the co-pilot of a US Airways Boeing 737 plane had to delay takeoff and keep the plane's nose down to avoid crashing into an Aer Lingus Airbus A330 taking off on an intersecting runway at Logan Airport in Boston. On Aug. 19 last year, a Boeing 747 flown by Asiana was cleared to land on a runway at Los Angeles International at the same time a Southwest Boeing 737 was cleared to take off. The Asiana pilot spotted the other plane as it swung into position for takeoff and avoided disaster by turning away with two seconds to spare.
Life is dangerous enough these days without adding avoidable accidents to the mix. It's past time to push everyone including air traffic controllers, pilots and technicians toward making these near-collisions a thing of the past.
Source: International Herald Tribune
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