Case Study for Airport Terminal Incident A

Reply to the posts of the following classmates, respond with constructive commentary with APA references. Your response to your classmates should be thought-provoking and continue the conversation.

Case Study for Airport Terminal Incident

Scott

I will be addressing the mistakes made by the crew of United 1448 on December 6th, 1999. It was a gloomy night with very limited visibility due to the heavy fog at Theodore Francis Green State Airport in Rhode Island. As a result, ATC was operating in the dark, making operations extremely hazardous for both controllers and pilots taxiing. United 1448 was a Boeing 757-200 that had just recently landed on runway 5R and taxied off the runway at taxiway November. The instructions given to the students was to taxi via November, Tango, and report when crossing runway 16. The crew read back their taxi instructions, began taxiing, then made the mistake of turning left onto bravo assuming it was taxiway Tango they were turning onto. The issue with Theodore Francis Airport is that there are intersecting runways and the United 1448 crew was approaching the runway they had just landed on. 

With poor visibility and a lack of low visibility procedures such as surface movement radar or  HIAL – high intensity airfield lights to locate runway and taxiways, the controller still assumed the United crew was still taxing on November. As a result, the controller cleared a Fedex 727-200 for takeoff on runway 5R. The United crew reached what they assumed was runway 16 on November and reported their location as such to confirm they were cleared to cross the runway. The controller confirmed cleared to cross runway 16. The crew began taxiing and came very near to colliding with the Fedex aircraft departing on the same runway they were crossing. United then informed the crew that they were near Kilo and that an aircraft had just taken off in front of them. The controller was confused about their location but continued to clear the next awaiting aircraft to takeoff, to which the next aircraft luckily requested to hold position until the confusion up ahead was resolved. 

As the airport director for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, I can assure that this would not happen at my airport of for several reasons. The first of these reasons is that fact that our control tower is very unlike the control tower for Theodore Francis airport. The issue was that there was only one controller working both ground and tower frequencies, which divided the controllers attention from focusing more heavily on the ground operations. At Phoenix Sky Harbor, there are two ground controllers for the North and South sides of the airport that operate 24hours, and two tower controllers that operate 24 hours per day for runway 08-26, as well as 07R-25L/ 07L-25R. Additionally, the ground operations at Phoenix Sky Harbor include proper low visibility procedures such as high intensity airfield lights, standard taxi routes, and surface movement radar to ensure there are no aircraft taxiing onto the improper taxiway or runway. As of January 1st 2020, all aircraft are also required to have ADS-B out capabilities without the the dimensions of Bravo airspace, thus our ground controllers are able to have much more accurate real time infromation and accuracy about the location of all aircraft taxiing at Sky Harbor airport. Through the assistance of ADS-B, the risk of runway incursions with cockpit and controller displays  is greatly reduced as the locations of aircraft and equipped ground vehicles on airport surfaces are broadcast even at night or during heavy rainfall (Federal Aviation Administration, n.d.).

Mashan

I would like to highlight an ever-growing problem plaguing airports that is only in its infancy. The Gatwick airport drone incident will be used as an example.

Drones are a major threat to airport operations and safety. Whether it is due to the inadequate knowledge of the operator in knowing the limitations of airspace or a deliberate attempt, both result in the same outcome. The disruption at Gatwick was widespread, over 140,000 passengers and about a thousand flights were disrupted over the course of three days (Rawlinson, 2019).  The economic loss from the disruption was estimated at approximately 55.8 Million Euros which primarily affected airlines. EasyJet had the largest loss in revenue and customer welfare, the announced loss was 16.7 Million Euros (Wendt et al., 2020). Since then drones have caused more disruption to flights and airports have been scrambling to handle the situation. 

Currently, Sky Harbor does not have a detection system in place. The FAA is still testing different methods of countering drones. However, the FAA does not want to create a safety hazard while trying to mitigate a security risk. There are many airports currently testing drone detection systems across the United States. Due to the sheer number of incidents in Europe, a lot of the airports have already adopted drone detection technology as a means to mitigate the risk before it occurs. The FAA and Sky Harbor would need to implement such systems at the earliest.

Another critical area is the regulation that pertains to UAS. There is great debate on how to incorporate UAS into the National Airspace System. For smaller drones, operators should be made aware of their responsibilities as well as the locations they can fly them in. Sky Harbor airport provides links to such information on its website. Further approval is required for flying a drone within 5 miles of Sky Harbor and the City of Phoenix Aviation Department is in charge of that process (Sky Harbor, 2022). In addition, there is a map provided by Sky Harbor depicting the locations and safety areas for permissible operations.

The TRB has to revise its airport incident response planning to account for drone activity. This will then serve as a standard guide that is maintained and briefed to all airport staff. This revised document will also be a guide to training individuals on their assignments and responsibilities. Currently, there is only a guidebook on airport response to UAS threats. In the case of a drone incursion, all flights would be required to be grounded till further notice. It will then be up to law enforcement to investigate, identify and respond. The FAA provides guidance that can be used in response which is from the law enforcement guidance for suspected unauthorized UAS operations (PARAS, 2021).

Direct attention to the incident and identify individuals involved

Report the incident to the FAA and law enforcement

Observe the UAS and maintain visual contact

Notice attributes about the equipment and environment

Execute pre-determined policies and procedures

Currently, the airport may not be fully equipped to handle this threat however, large strides are being made with regard to tracking technology and regulation so that the threat can be minimized before it can have a larger impact. 

Shannon

For my research topic I would like to study:  Cybersecurity Extension to Project Management Models for Complex Infrastructure Projects. 

With growing digitization and complex infrastructures there is a need to adapt to innovation solution to manage projects. As project managers implementing data security at every stage of project development is key to overall safety of the organization or product, just like system safety managers. 

Elise

For my research paper I would like to discuss the current relevancy/usefulness of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and whether its certification/publications are necessary for being a good project manager.

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