Senior aviation-industry officials and regulators are sounding the alarm regarding the growing spate of near-misses among aircraft in the country. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating six separate close-call incidents at airports nationwide. So far, the cause of the uptick in incidents is unknown, per The Wall Street Journal reporting.
The FAA held a meeting on March 15 to address the numerous high-profile events. One such near-miss occurred here in Texas when a FedEx cargo plane landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport came within 100 feet of a Southwest Airlines flight preparing for takeoff. Both aircraft had been cleared to use the runway.
Officials in attendance at the March 15 meeting suggested various theories to explain the uptick, per the WSJ. Some believe the increased prevalence of close calls could be related to a post-pandemic travel resurgence, while others suspect the aviation industry is broadly experiencing higher levels of fatigue resulting from heavy work schedules.
Some theorize that it is a result of newer, less-experienced pilots, while others believe it may be a result of distracted air-traffic controllers or perhaps even complacency.
According to a recording of the meeting, the president of the American Airlines pilot union, Ed Sicher, confessed, “Every piece of the system is under stress,” per the WSJ.
Since 2009, the airline industry has experienced improvements in the form of expanded cooperation between industry and government officials and technological advancements. Only two people have died in aviation accidents since that year. However, if the current trend of near misses persists, 2023 will be the worst year of such incidents in over two decades.
The near-collision in Austin has placed a focus on air-traffic controllers. The FedEx plane had been green-lit to land by a controller, who then gave the go-ahead for the Southwest jet to begin moving down the runway. Even after the FedEx pilot asked for confirmation roughly one minute later, he was told it was safe to proceed. He only aborted the landing after he saw the Southwest plane’s silhouette below through the fog.
Air traffic controllers are responsible for the safe management of thousands of flights throughout the United States daily. Many times, they must usher in numerous flights back-to-back with limited space between them. In Austin, the airport lacked equipment that may have prevented the event — a system that would have alerted controllers to a potential collision.
When the pandemic hit, airline travel plummeted, leaving many in the industry out of work. As travel has picked up, however, the industry has scrambled to fill vacant positions and expedite training and promotions.
“My biggest concern is, are we making absolutely sure we are not shortcutting training. I hear from those out in the field, whether it’s in a cockpit, or in ATC, or on the ground about how they feel like they’re getting rushed through training, and they’re making certain intervals faster than their predecessors. And so that is concerning for me,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, per the WSJ.
As of September 2022, the FAA had 10,268 fully trained air traffic controllers — fewer than the organization had 10 years ago.
“The reality is even if we have everybody hired, the proficiency and the ability of the system is not where it has been in the past,” said David Garrison, senior vice president of corporate safety and security at Delta Air Lines, per the WSJ.
In a potential sign that the phenomenon is subsiding, the number of serious incidents has leveled off, according to the FAA.
“I want to say this cautiously — we are seeing early and preliminary indications that the level of severe runway incursions is coming closer to the norm,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, per the WSJ.