Austin airport gets new tech to improve safety
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Thursday that the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) would receive a new surface safety tool for its air traffic control tower.
The FAA said the tool, called Approach Runway Verification, or ARV, provides controllers with visual and audible alerts if an approaching aircraft is lined up to land on the wrong airport surface, or even the wrong airport.
Concerns raised over aviation safety after multiple near crashes
According to a statement from the FAA, AUS was the latest tower to begin using the safety technology.
“A safe National Airspace System begins and ends on the airport surface,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. “Providing controllers with tools such as Approach Runway Verification will improve their situational awareness of the airport surface, which is paramount to improving safety.”
The Austin airport was the only airport in Texas listed to receive the new ARV technology; however, the FAA said it would continue to install ARV at other facilities across the nation throughout the rest of the year and into 2025.
“ARV is one of the three surface situational awareness solutions that make up the FAA’s fast-tracked surface safety portfolio,” the FAA said. “The other tools are the Runway Incursion Device (RID) and the Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI).”
In-depth
In February 2023, there was a near miss between two planes at AUS. The FAA said FedEx Flight 1432 had been cleared to land on Runway 18-Left, but shortly before its expected landing, the controller cleared Southwest Flight 708 to depart from the same runway.
“The pilot of the FedEx airplane discontinued the landing and initiated a climb out,” FAA officials said in a statement. “The Southwest flight departed safely.”
What causes ‘near misses’ at airports?
In December 2023, data about a Southwest flight indicated a plane was 600 feet off the ground before it returned to the air for several minutes because another aircraft had not yet exited the runway.
At the time, the FAA said there was “no loss of safe separation between the Southwest flight and any other aircraft.”
Several similar incidents at the Austin airport have prompted agencies to step in and improve safety measures.
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