NTSB · Safety Recommendation
Safety Recommendation A-11-012
Recommendation
TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Perform a technical review of Airport Surface Detection Equipment–Model X (ASDE-X) to determine if the capability exists systemwide to detect improper operations such as landings on taxiways.
Safety Issue and Context
On October 19, 2009, about 0605 eastern daylight time, a Boeing 767, N185DN, operating as Delta Air Lines flight 60, landed on taxiway M at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia. The flight was operating as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 flight from Rio de Janeiro/Galeão-Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport to ATL with 11 crewmembers and 182 passengers. No injuries to the crew or passengers were reported, and the airplane was not damaged. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
Response History
September 14, 2011 · NTSB Correspondence · FAA
The FAA replied that it does not plan to take the recommended actions because it believes that the ability to accurately predict that an aircraft is arriving on a taxiway is not possible without significant degradation in performance, timeliness, and accuracy of safety logic alerts for the more likely event of an aircraft arriving on a closed or occupied runway. The FAA pointed out that these same performance tradeoffs exist today at some airports with close parallel and offset threshold runways.
The NTSB acknowledges that the recommended review would need to consider performance tradeoffs of the type that the FAA discussed in its letter; however, simply concluding (1) that the performance tradeoffs would outweigh the safety benefits of providing the recommended capabilities without performing the review and (2) that performance tradeoffs at some airports outweigh the value of providing the capability at any airport does not constitute an acceptable response to these recommendations.
However, the FAA indicated that it considers its action in response to these recommendations to be complete; consequently, Safety Recommendations A-11-12 and -13 are classified CLOSED—UNACCEPTABLE ACTION.
May 13, 2011 · Recipient Response · FAA
CC# 201100213: - From J. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator: The ability to accurately predict that an aircraft is arriving to a taxiway is not possible without significant degradation in performance, timeliness, and accuracy of safety logic alerts for the more likely event of an aircraft arriving to a closed or occupied runway. These same performance trade-offs exist today at some airports with close parallel and offset threshold runways. Adding arrival to taxiway alerts will only increase the need for performance trade-offs, such as:
• Degradation of the Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X system's ability to provide correct and timely predictions to the associated parallel runway; • Additional false alerts due to incorrectly predicting an aircraft landing on a taxiway and • A real alert being missed if a runway is occupied during the false prediction to an associated taxiway. I believe that we have effectively addressed these safety recommendations and I consider our actions complete.