On Jan. 23, a large passenger jet and a Cessna cargo plane came within 1,173 feet of each other on runway 4L at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
Preliminary findings by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) indicated that the jet, a United Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 291 passengers and 10 crew, had crossed onto the runway while taxiing from an adjacent runway, 4R. The Cessna, carrying two crew members, had just landed on 4L.
No one got hurt and the planes were not damaged. In terms of severity, the incident ranked fairly low. Nonetheless, such runway incursions (RIs) are canaries in the coal mine — an indication that procedures set in place to avoid a catastrophic collision may not be working as robustly as intended.
So last month the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice urging the aviation community to exercise “continued vigilance and attention to mitigation of safety risks.” Its notice was prompted by six serious RIs — including the Honolulu incident — since January. One of them involved a landing aircraft coming within 100 feet of a departing aircraft at a Texas airport.
Unfortunately, RIs are nothing new in Honolulu. An FAA Safety Team notice in 2021, in reference to general aviation, noted that Honolulu has had a history of high numbers of RIs, “due, in part, to the close spacing of parallel runways 4L and 4R” — the same runways involved in the Jan. 23 incident. The notice suggested that previous attempts to mitigate the problem may not have been enough.
In its March notice, the FAA urged all those responsible for airline safety, which would include pilots, air traffic controllers and airport vehicle drivers, to take heed of the recent events, reinforce adherence to proper procedures and training, modifying them if necessary.
No doubt this guidance must be taken to heart, especially in Hawaii. Maintaining safety requires vigilance and a commitment of continuous improvement. And with the pandemic lifting, tourism rebounding and air traffic increasing, such efforts are more important than ever.
