<B>WashingtonWire</B>
<B>Dot Suggests Adjusting Air Control</B>
When the Federal Aviation Administration releases its capacity benchmarks study for 31 major airports, look for the U.S. Department of Transportation to suggest modifications in air traffic control procedures to ease some of the congestion at these critical facilities. DOT secretary Norman Mineta told a media briefing April 3 that controllers, who since 1998 have had greater access to weather data, may be holding flights on the ground that actually could fly around storms. "Maybe what we've got here is too much control," Mineta said. "I'm just thinking out loud at this point. I'm not going to put people into unsafe conditions, but maybe we're being overly sensitive about where we're flying right now and how we're controlling the aircraft." Asked whether DOT should shift some flights from congested airports to under-used facilities to ease congestion, Mineta said he would rather try to make the 31 benchmarked airports work more efficiently. "We have a good start in looking at those airports and seeing what we can do to make adjustments," he said.
In another area, Mineta confirmed that he has encountered difficulties in hiring a chief executive for the new FAA Air Traffic Organization. The ATO will oversee operations of the nation's air traffic control system. "Unfortunately, we had some good candidates and they were not able to take the position," he said. Other "very good" candidates are under review, and "hopefully in the next two to three weeks" an appointment will be announced.
<B><A NAME="2">Airlines To Offer Detailed Delay Info, Dot Defines 'Delay'</B>
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a new initiative to give consumers more detailed information on flight delays and launched a test reporting program with the voluntary cooperation of American, Delta, Southwest and United airlines. In addition, DOT set a uniform definition of a flight delay to mean a flight that arrives at an airport gate 15 minutes or more after its scheduled arrival time. Currently, DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration have separate definitions, causing them to report conflicting statistics on the severity of the delay problem. FAA administrator Jane Garvey announced the pilot reporting program, which is aimed at spotlighting trends in delays. In testimony before the House transportation appropriations subcommittee, Garvey said that the reporting program will separate delay information into three categories: conditions under an airline's control, such as crew availability or maintenance; weather; and conditions in the national aviation system, such as FAA's air traffic control system or airport construction.
<B><A NAME="3">NTSB Recommends Measures To Increase Aviation Safety</B>
The possibility of a "catastrophic accident" at one of the nation's airports will increase with time if the rate of runway errors isn't reduced, Carol Carmody, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, recently told members of Congress. Carmody testified before the House transportation appropriations subcommittee regarding needed aviation safety improvements as part of the annual budget process.
Noting that the runway safety, or incursion, issue has been on the safety board's most wanted list of safety improvements for the past decade, Carmody said that her agency issued six more recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration last year on this subject. Three of these recommendations remain in an "unacceptable status," she stated. These are a request for FAA to discontinue the practice of allowing departing aircraft to hold on active runways at nighttime or during poor visibility, a recommendation that FAA adopt landing clearance procedures recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization and a request that FAA require air traffic controllers to use standard ICAO phraseology when giving directions to pilots. Carmody also said that controllers need to speak at reasonable rates when communicating with all flight crews, especially those whose primary language is not English.
Further, Carmody said, FAA's plan to deploy the Airport Movement Area Safety System, a surveillance system that will signal controllers when an aircraft or vehicle is occupying a runway, is years behind in its development. "The board does not believe that AMASS as currently designed meets the safety goals of the original system promised by FAA," Carmody said. Despite the potential for a runway accident, she told lawmakers that, "Fortunately, there have been few actual collisions and the number of fatalities has been small." Most runway incursions have involved small general aviation aircraft.