Flight Safety Foundation Airport Operations 1995

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November–December 1995

Rapid Response of Airport Emergency Services Hindered by Weather and Other Factors 6 pages. [PDF 38K]

Current U.S. FAR and ICAO requirements for emergency response times are less stringent than those in the equivalent U.S. National Fire Prevention standards. Nevertheless, poor weather conditions or aircraft accidents that end in rivers, bays or other bodies of water adjacent to airports are likely to increase response times by emergency services.

September–October 1995

Adapting Crew Resource Management to the Air Traffic Control Environment 8 pages. [PDF 48K]

A U.S. FAA report found that adapting crew resource management (CRM) training for flight crews to air traffic control (ATC) was not advisable because of significant differences in the work environments of the two groups. The report did, however, recommend that ATC-specific CRM training be developed based on an analysis of ATC needs after ways of analyzing the effectiveness of such programs have been established.

July–August 1995

FAA Report Surveys U.S. Airline Pilots to Discover Factors That Promote Runway Excursions 8 pages. [PDF 45K]

Pilots cited poorly timed and expressed taxi instructions, inadequate signage, difficult-to-follow charts and radio frequency congestion, among other problems.

May–June 1995

Research Suggests That Some Rotating Work Shift Schedules Do Not Harm Air Traffic Controllers’ Sleep Patterns 6 pages. [PDF 39K]

A so-called “advancing” or “counterclockwise” rotation, beginning earlier with each change, may actually benefit workers’ ability to obtain adequate sleep.

March–April 1995

Bird-strike Solutions Spurred by Imagination, Innovation 6 pages. [PDF 47K]

Although only three fatal air transport accidents have been linked to bird strikes, many less serious accidents continue to be caused by aircraft-bird encounters, and the possibility of bird-strike-caused disaster can never be ruled out. Techniques to counter the threat include strike-resistant engines, lights, noise, airport ecology management and, at one airport, pigs.

January–February 1995

Ultra-high-capacity Aircraft Will Intensify Airport Safety Issues 8 pages. [PDF 54K]

The new generation of transports will likely cause further pressures on ground maneuvers and emergency evacuations at airports, and possibly increase wake vortex hazards.