As a result of a dedicated task force, comprising of a number of key stakeholders from across the aviation industry the GAPPRI was released in December 2023. It has provided the industry with global recommendations to reduce the risk of runway incursion. A later document will follow which will provide guidance material. As runway safety was a focus for the SIRM, a review and promotion of GAPPRI seemed a reasonable activity. The SIRM was broken into four groups to consider the following recommendations.
This is clearly an area where globally, much attention needs to be paid. Standardization of communications is critical to prevent miscommunication and incidents borne from ambiguity. The group considered the recommendations ANSP10-16 and considered a selection which they determined to be items that could be prioritised. The areas that were identified included:
ANSP12 - Ensure that ATC communication messages are not overly long or complex in order to assist pilots and vehicle drivers to maintain good situational awareness whilst taxiing or during critical stages of operations.
ANSP13 - Ensure that, whenever practicable, en route clearances are passed prior to taxi, and, in order to avoid flight crew distractions during taxi, consider passing any revision to the en route clearance whilst the aircraft is stopped.
ANSP14 - Ensure that air traffic controllers always use the phrase: “HOLD POSITION” when passing a revised clearance to an aircraft that is at a holding position or on the runway.
ANSP15 - In cooperation with aerodrome operators, implement procedures for airside vehicle drivers, including standard phrases for:
Implementation challenges were discussed, and it was recognized that airport capacity and controller capacity would be big factors in implementation. As traffic levels rise and frequencies become more congested the likelihood for confusion rises, technology, where not already present should be considered at all commercial airports to assist controllers with aircraft movements on the ground.
The group recognized that ANSP10 would provide a longer term and more robust solution, but recognized this would be a slow and challenging recommendation to fully implement.
Pilot workload peaks before and during departure and in the approach phases of flight, it is also the time when there is going to be an increase in communication with ATC or other ground servicing agents. Task disruption has always been a challenge, especially during safety essential activity, such as checking or inputting performance data. GAPPRI identifies nine recommendations for implementation which support reducing pilot workload during the taxi and take-off phases of flight.
The group reviewed the recommendations and recognized the importance of all nine, identifying the following as potentially giving the most and immediate benefit:
ANSP22 - If the take-off clearance is not issued together with the line-up clearance, the phrase “line-up and wait” should be used.
ANSP24 - Issuance of a premature or late landing clearance should be avoided. Criteria should be decided locally (e.g., not before the final approach fix/final approach point (FAF/FAP), not below 1,000 ft above ground level).
Whilst both ANSP22 and ANSP24 are simple and sensible recommendations they could serve as a standardized and effective control against the condition where an aircraft is provided with a clearance to land following another aircraft being a line-up instruction, or as in recent incidents, an aircraft cleared to line-up when the runway has already been given early to an aircraft on the approach.
An aerodrome can be a complex operating environment and it is essential that ground movements, restrictions, and any changes to published procedures and routes are promulgated in the correct ways to avoid confusing situations which may lead to inadvertent runway incursions during the taxi phase.
The group reviewed seven recommendations relating to ground operations and considered that two would represent a priority:
AO7 - Aircraft operators should implement policy and procedures that enable flight crews to plan ground operations effectively, by providing up-to-date airport charts, relevant NOTAMs, active runway configuration, latest weather/airfield conditions, and airport briefing sheets, in order to provide optimum situational awareness and reduce runway incursion–related risks.
AO10 - Aircraft operators should implement policy and procedures that aerodrome charts must be displayed on the flight deck during taxi. This includes when operating at home and familiar aerodromes. Operators should consider implementation of flight deck moving map technology, where feasible, and provide crews with training and procedures for use of moving maps, including any built-in runway incursion prevention systems.
During the discussions it was highlighted that there were potential skill gaps in the use of the Notice to Air Mission (NOTAM) system, which may lead to NOTAM data not being promulgated or old data still being present in the aviation system. Situational awareness (SA) is an important area to consider and as SA can become eroded due to confusion during the taxy phase, other safety controls become weaker, such as the ability to recognize and understand complex RT messages. Whilst CRM was introduced to mitigate the potential for loss of situational awareness it is essential that CRM encourages crew members to speak up if ambiguity or potential issues are detected, in line with a positive safety culture.
The final group were tasked with reviewing seven of the eleven recommendations under Runway Operations, again it is clear that all recommendations outlined in the GAPPRI will provide benefits one way or another, but the group were able to highlight four key recommendations:
AO19 - Aircraft operators should discover and consider implementation of technology which increases pilot awareness of airborne traffic when approaching the runway holding positions and supports crew decision-making regarding safe runway entry, e.g., airborne traffic situation awareness (ATSAW). New runway incursion technology developments, which provide real time on-board conflict detection and collision prevention on the runway, should also be considered for implementation by operators.
AO21 - Aircraft operators should implement policies for flight crews in relation to extended time on the active runway before take-off and the associated runway incursion risks. The policy should include guidance on, but not limited to, entering a runway when not ready for departure, engine run-ups, departure path assessment and back-tracks.
AO24 - Aircraft operators should ensure that flight deck procedures contain a requirement for explicit clearances to enter, cross or land on any runway, regardless of runway status (active/inactive). Operator policy should require each flight crewmember to independently hear the three parts of any runway clearance (call sign, clearance and runway), and procedures should include clear, effective means to ensure crew understanding and mitigate cognitive bias. Any doubts must be resolved immediately.
AO25 - Aircraft operators’ procedures should include a means (memory aid) for the pilot flying (PF) and PM to visually indicate, crosscheck and verify receipt of any ATC clearance to enter, cross, line up, take off and land.
The group identified a nice blend of recommendations which covered the strengthening of technological, procedural, and human controls.
A large proportion of the recommendations, if and when implemented, still require improvements to the overall communication standards present in today’s aviation system, regulators need to be called into account to strengthen these base controls as part of State Safety Objectives and really consider whether the risk of runway incidents are at acceptable levels of safety.
