On March 27, 1977, the worst accident in aviation history occurred when a KLM 747 on takeoff ran into a Pan American 747 which was back taxiing on the runway in Tenerife, Canary Islands after landing. 583 people lost their lives in the crash. The horrific crash was caused by what is referred to as a “runway incursion”. Simply defined, this is an aircraft operating on an active runway without clearance from the tower or ground control.

On Friday, January 13th, there was a very serious runway incursion at JFK International Airport in New York, which might easily taken the lives of the hundreds of passengers and crew on board the aircraft involved.

Having flown numerous models of airliners out of JFK from 1964 through 1999 I am very familiar with that airport, its assets and its limitations. There are many of both.

On the positive side, it was the first major airport in this country to have separate terminals for the various major airlines. American, Eastern, Pan American, TWA and United all had their own facilities. Others, such as Delta, Northwest, Northeast and others, shared terminals.  So did all the foreign carriers, in the International Arrivals building. 

In addition, the “Big Five” (American, Eastern, Pan Am, TWA and United) all had large hangars and catering facilities where their aircraft were maintained and thousands of inflight meals were prepared daily.

As the airline industry expanded, airports world wide increased their capacity to handle the additional traffic with more ramp space, taxiways and of course runways. Airplanes, from the time of the Wright Flyer, takeoff and land into the wind, so runway construction is dictated by the prevailing winds of the location. Since those frequently change seasonally, having a large footprint to build on is vital.

The runways at JFK have been constructed to maximize departures and arrivals regardless of the wind direction and velocity on a given day. As can be imagined, the taxiway patterns constructed to access these runways are VERY complex.

Aircraft of various sizes and weights require runways of different length to operate, depending on the wind speed and direction. on a given day. Therefore it, might be necessary to utilize multiple runways, taking off and landing in different directions, to efficiently utilize the capacity of the airport at any given time. That means that it might be necessary for aircraft to taxi across a runway which is currently being used for landings and takeoffs, ie: an “active runway”. The possible safety implications are obvious, and they are compounded by the time of day and weather conditions. Continue reading Tombstone Legislation →