Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: James T. Crouse
Profession: Aviation Accident Attorney

After examining five years of FAA data involving 452 airports, Forbes.com editors compiled a list of
America's most dangerous airports and concluded airline travelers' face the biggest risk of death or injury while still on the ground. While it is reported serious runway incidents involve less than 1% of the total flights and since 2001, 108 travelers have died in ground collisions compared to the millions of travelers who have taken off and landed safely, I am sure this is of little comfort to the families and loved ones of those who have perished especially when we examine "why".

It is the "why" these incidents occur that really concern Frieda - airports not having the proper equipment - with lives at stake, why is this acceptable, why are they operating commercial flights without the proper equipment? There are always unforeseen forces which can cause runway incidents, but when airports are knowingly putting travelers at risk due to their inadequate resources, Frieda finds this unconscionable. According to Forbes, "Most, if not all, of the incidents could have been avoided if airports had the proper monitoring equipment in place. What's worse, FAA figures show hundreds more commercial jet aircraft came within eight seconds of collision between 2001 and 2006". Again, unconscionable. These figures possibly could be even higher since it is the FAA who sets the standard for what must be reported as a runway incursion and with air travel on the rise, so are these accidents, incidents, runway incursions - whatever you want to call them. Also, these figures are for commercial passenger craft only - no private planes, no small craft, and no cargo incidents are included in the data.

Congestion, weather, poor runway design & poorly marked taxiways, and poor ground radar system, are to blame according to the analysts - with weather being the only culprit that is not in man's control - however, proper equipment can lessen the incidents caused by weather. Here are a few examples of poor planning and, in some cases, seemingly total unawareness of what's going on and we must ask "why?" this is allowed.

*Phoenix Sky Harbor International, on going construction and new buildings interfere with the towers ability to visually track aircraft.
*Los Angeles International, all arriving air craft have to cross runways used for take offs.
*Philadelphia International is a modern airport with an outdated runway surveillance system.
*Chicago's Midway International Airport, built in 1923, it's surrounded by residential neighborhood and has much shorter runways (about 2000 feet shorter than newer ones) which require a steep ascent on take off. In 2005 a Southwest Boeing 747 skidded on the icy runway ripping through a fence and stopped on a city street killing a 6 year old boy.
These are just a few of the airports on the list of the most dangerous and the reasons for them making the list.

Missing from the list are JFK, LaGuardia, and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson - some of the nation's busiest and biggest. So, obviously big and busy do not constitute incompetence and lack of safety for airline passengers. What are these airports doing right that the others are doing so terribly wrong? What other industry is allowed to operate like this? Amusement rides are shut down when there is a danger to the patrons, everything from pharmaceuticals to toys are recalled when there is a threat to life - consumers insist on it. Yet we allow the airline industry - including airports - to continue to put us at risk. We even allow them to raise their prices so they can put us at risk and we pay more for it. I am not totally unsympathetic to these problems - it is going to cost millions to correct these issues, to make sure even the basic safety standards are enforced, and to make sure all systems are working properly before allowing planes to taxi, take off, and land. This catastrophe has been years in the making and there is really no excuse for it being at this magnitude.

Mary Schiavo, an aviation litigator and the former inspector general at the U.S. Department of Transportation, doesn't have much confidence in government bureaucrats' ability to solve the problem. "We've lost control. ... The problem is too big for the FAA to handle," she says tartly. "Maybe we should hire Microsoft."

I think it's time for air travelers to have a voice in this and really question what we are getting for our increased fares - not only does it seem we are getting less amenities while in the air - we are getting less safety while on the ground!