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Runway Safety Home | Regions | Site Map
The Human Element
Runway safety is one of the FAA’s highest priorities – specifically the problem of runway incursions. A runway incursion is defined as: ny occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft.
 
Though relatively few in number when compared to the massive amount of traffic that moves safely through our nation’s airports every day, runway incursions present a special problem. Not only do they have the potential to put more lives at risk due to the number and proximity of aircraft operating on the airport surface, they also take place in a complex and dynamic environment where root causes are difficult to isolate.
 
At the simplest level, incursions occur because people make mistakes. Humans are superbly skilled at making decisions under a wide range of circumstances but, for a variety of reasons, they are also fallible. Consider this human vulnerability within the context of the numerous variables that may contribute to human error and you can appreciate the problem.  Its not just a pilot, controller, or vehicle operator problem, it a problem that all of us in the aviation community share.
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For further information, please contact:

Federal Aviation Administration
Office of Runway Safety
490 L'Enfant Plaza, Suite 7225
Washington, DC 20024

Employee Locator: 202-366-4000
Hearing Impaired TTY (Hours 9:00am-5:30pm): 202-755-7687

Page Last Updated: March 14, 2008