Policies, procedures, regulations, and technology must all evolve together to accommodate the demands being placed on airports and air traffic control services - and to ensure the safety of the aircraft using them. Today, I want to talk to you about a few of the safety issues that the Board is concerned about as they relate to your operations - runway incursions, runway overruns, contract towers, and airport firefighting capability. There were 71 percent more incursions in 1999 than there were in 1993, and the incursion rate per 100,000 flight operations was 56 percent higher in 1999 than in 1993. Through August of this year, there were 290 incursions - a 39 percent increase over last year. If this trend continues, we can expect to have 400 or more incursions by the end of the year - an unenviable new record.
Runway incursions continue to affect all aspects of aviation.
Since 1990, there have been six runway incursion accidents that killed 63 people. In 1999, serious runway incursions involving air transport aircraft occurred at Chicago, New York's JFK International, Los Angeles International, and Providence, Rhode Island. This year, the Board is investigating incursions involving air carriers at Chicago Midway and New York's La Guardia airports among others. And, we're currently investigating a fatal accident in which two small aircraft collided on the runway, killing four people, the past March in Sarasota, Florida. The prevention of runway incursions has been on the Board's list of Most Wanted transportation safety improvements since the list's inception in 1990.