A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/785247
dictating how Air Traffic must use A/G frequencies. NATCA received a briefing from the Spectrum Office on September 27th. We have requested a SRM panel be convened to address the safety issues associated with this requirement. AJI is reviewing the request. RUNWAY SAFETY Bridget Gee (DFW) is NATCA's Runway Safety Act ion Team (RSAT) Representative. She also serves as the Article 114 Representative to the Runwa y Status L ights (RWSL) Program. Below is her report to the membership. The major ity of my efforts last month and for the foreseeable future will be to improve the runway safety group ' s process for data collection, categorization including event assessment, and the analysis function associated with runway incursions. This will undoubtedly take some time and effort. However, our goal is to incorporate improvements, including the following: Historically, the RCAT (Root Cause Analysis Team) brings recommendations to t he RSC (Runway Safety Council) based off of the A & B events in the NAS. These recommendations were solely from those 19 events and not necessarily systemic issues. Last year - 7 As, 12 Bs, 698 Cs, and 838 Ds . By combining the SRAP (Surface Risk Analysis Process) and RIAT together, we can do a " deeper dive " into the C events. This process would allow an assessment of the contributing factors, the taxonomy that includes the ACT 3, and include a risk assessment. This new process ultimately would result in da ta driven recommendations to the RSC. Data Collection: MOR is filed, QA validates if a non - conflict, use the RSPMs (Runway Safety Program Managers) to confirm the event is a non - conflict. If the event meets the definition of a runway incursion and in fac t is a non - conflict. It would then be categorized as a D. If the event is a conflict event we send it to the next step. Event Assessment: (SRAP+): A key element in order for this to be affective is the use of a collaborate group modeling it off of the current SRAP process by bringing NATCA and a pilot on board. This group would be combining the efforts of the RIAT, which categorizes runway incursions with the efforts of the SRAP, which does a more in depth analysis into an event. By combining these effo rts we get more pertinent data. Last year, SRAP reviewed 356 events. Over the last 5 years, the SRAP has reviewed 1,445 events. None of this data has been actually used by the runway safety group. I am the co - lead for the RCAT. I have asked for the taxon omy and contributing factors data in order to bring it to the next RCAT on the 23rd, which would begin a more in depth look into those events. I haven ' t gotten the data yet, but I hope to get it by Friday. Analysis function: (RCAT+) The group turns the d ata from the SRAP+ into something we can use by doing an assessment of the big picture. If an issue is identified as systemic in the NAS we have a national responsibility to do something. At the same time, if an issue is identified for a specific facility. This allows us to give the facility tools to handle local issues. Also, we