WASHINGTON -- With airliners and private planes taking off and landing, trucks carrying food, fuel and luggage carriers scurrying about and buses shuttling passengers, airport tarmacs can be hazardous places. The government is moving to reduce the danger.
"We know we have a problem. That's why we're focusing on it," FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey said.She announced Tuesday a series of workshops across the country to focus attention on runway hazards as well as a yearlong study of close calls in airports to determine how to avoid them in the future.
Garvey said both private and commercial pilots are joining in an effort that also will include increased training for air traffic controllers.
Of the 325 incidents in 1998 and 322 last year when airplanes came dangerously close to one another or to vehicles on runways and taxiways, 57 percent resulted from pilot error, said John Mayrhofer, FAA's director of runway safety.
Air traffic control errors accounted for about 25 percent, he said, and the rest were problems with vehicles and pedestrians.
Mayrhofer said the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association, which represents private pilots, is working with the agency to provide training to its members.
In addition, he said, air traffic controllers will receive monthly refreshers on ground safety and commercial pilots also are working with the agency.
During the next year, officials said, they will investigate reports of runway close calls -- what the FAA calls runway incursions -- to try and determine the causes.
Problems differ from airport to airport, Garvey said, and solutions may also have to vary.
She noted the agency hopes within two years to outfit the nation's 34 largest airports with ground radars that can issue warnings of potential close calls.
The FAA also is experimenting with new runway lighting systems and other technology that may help avoid ground incidents, officials said.