Vanquishing the V/PD

4th Quarter 2012

A quarterly publication from the

Safety Section

Federal Aviation Administration Airports Division

Western-Pacific Region

This publication is directed primarily towards airport management to be disseminated to

all levels of personnel working at your airfield. It does not matter how large or how small

your airfield or how tight your budget may be, this information must be made available to

your people by whatever means. Vanquishing the V/PD can be accomplished through a

solid partnership between the FAA and airport management. The responsibility of

making sure that the proper safeguards are in place; however, lies squarely on the

shoulders of the airport management. Please use this information and all that follows as a

guide by which to produce a safer environment at your airfield.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was famous for asking his constituents “So, how

am I doing?” As FY 2012 draws to a close, airports in the Western-Pacific Region

concerned about V/PD related runway incursion statistics may ask the same question. So

how are we doing?

First, let’s look at four years of V/PD, runway incursion statistics for the WesternPacific Region (AWP):

FY 2012 *31 AWP experienced its lowest year. Nice.

FY 2011 43

FY 2010 42

FY 2009 36

Second, let’s look at four years of V/PD statistics (runway incursions and surface

incidents combined) for AWP:

FY 2012 *78 AWP experienced a spike.

FY 2011 63

FY 2010 69
FY 2009 60

Now we will look at four years of V/PD, Runway Incursion statistics, nationally (all

Regions):

FY 2012 *185 The nation is trending upward. (Data valid thru 9/27/12).

FY 2011 183

FY 2010 181

FY 2009 199

Lastly, let’s study a table showing AWP RIs and V/PDs occurring at Certificated 139

airports vs. general aviation airports (GA).

RIs All VPDs

FY RI 139 % RI Non-139 % VPD 139 % VPD Non-139 %

2008 23 53% 20 47% 38 58% 27 42%

2009 26 72% 10 28% 34 57% 26 43%

2010 19 45% 23 55% 35 51% 34 49%

2011 23 53% 20 47% 29 46% 34 54%

*2012 10 32% 21 68% 23 29% 55 71%

*2012 FY end statistics are preliminary and subject to change pending official

analysis and classification.

As the chart shows, there is a jumpy, yet downward trend of V/PD RIs at AWP

Certificated 139 airports. But there is a very definite downward trend of total V/PDs

occurring at AWP Certificated 139 airports. None of the statistics in this article include

maintenance taxi operations.

So, how are we doing? V/PD runway incursions at Certificated 139 airports and GA

airports are at an all-time low in the Western-Pacific Region. With Certificated 139

airports continuing to focus attention on driver training efforts and GA airports stepping

up efforts on proper escorting procedures, tenant outreach and analysis of root causes of

V/PDs, I am convinced overall V/PD statistics will show very pronounced downward

trends across the board in years to come.

Congratulations!

Column written by:

Steven Oetzell

Lead Airport Certification Safety Inspector, AWP-620.6

Reproductions of this, past and subsequent issues of Vanquishing the VPD are available

on FAAWebsite:

http://www.faa.gov/airports/western%5Fpacific/airports%5Fresources/newsletter/