Welcome to the class blog of COM 315! This course adderssses the specific challenges involved in communicating complex, technical information to both lay and experienced audiences. Throughout the semester, we will be reading several journal articles relating to how presenters can communicate complex ideas in a clear and understanding way. Students are required to reflect on these articles in the blog, as well as apply the readings to real-world instances.

Calendar of Events

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Cockpit Runway Alert Systems

Cockpit Runway Alert Systems

John Dale

Introduction:

Attention Getter: The date is August 27, 2006. It’s just before 6:00am EST at the Lexington, Kentucky Blue Grass Airport. All of the 47 passengers and 3 crewmembers are on board Comair flight 5191 and ready for a routine flight to Atlanta, Georgia. Among the passengers are a newlywed couple heading out on their honeymoon, a University of Kentucky official and a man from Florida trying to catch an early flight home to see his children. Seven minutes later, the aircraft impacted the ground just west of the airport and 49 of the 50 souls onboard were dead. How could so much life be lost in such a short amount of time? The answer is that the pilots took off from the wrong runway.

Preview Statement: In this presentation I will start off by describing the events that led up to this tragedy , describe an aircraft runway alert system that could keep accidents like this from happening in the future and some ways that you all can help implement this system in the airliners you travel on.

Transition: Let’s start by looking at some of the factors that played a key role in the Comair 5191 accident and others similar to it.

Body:

I. According to the NTSB, over the past two decades over 120 aircraft incidents or accidents have occurred because of an aircraft taking off on the wrong runway.

A. The Comair 5191 cockpit voice recorder transcript posted on the NTSB website shows that both pilots had no idea that they were on the wrong runway until it was too late to stop.

1. The pilots were initially cleared to taxi to runway 22, the only runway that had enough length for their aircraft, by the Lexington control tower.

2. The copilot mentioned taxiing to runway 22 three times in the NTSB cockpit voice recorder transcript but the aircraft was stopped by the captain just short of runway 26.

3. The flight data recorder recovered by the NTSB showed that both pilots’ displays showed they were on the wrong runway.

B. There have also been other aircraft accidents and incidents caused by pilots taking aircraft off on the wrong runway.

1. In 1989 two incidents involving Eastern Airlines flight 563 and American Airlines flight 508 at the Houston Hobby airport caused the FAA to order increased signage and preflight taxi cautions for pilots at that airport.

2. There have also been five other major incidents or accidents that the NTSB has investigated where the aircraft took off from the wrong runway and either caused damage or killed people.

3. NASA also offers a service where pilots can anonymously report mistakes they make in order to gather data on why accidents occur and since the program started in 1988 114 turbojet pilots have reported taking off from the wrong runway.

C. In response to all of these runway problems, the NTSB has made three major recommendations.

1. Aircraft should have moving maps displaying the airport in their cockpits.

2. Air traffic controllers should not issue a takeoff clearance until all intersecting runways are crossed.

3. Aircraft should have an automatic system that alerts pilots when they takeoff on the wrong runway.

Transition: The last NTSB solution regarding the implementation of cockpit runway alert systems is what I think would have the best result with alleviating these runway incursions.

II. According the PatentStorm.com Boeing currently has a patent on a alert system that would stop pilots from taking off on the wrong runway.

A. The system works by using the aircraft’s flight management computer to store the position of the correct runway and warns the pilot through an audible horn if the aircraft begins to takeoff at a position that doesn’t correspond to the correct runway.

1. The flight management computer is similar to your PC at home because it allows the user or pilot to input information through a keypad but it is different because it also receives inputs from sensors in the aircraft itself.

2. With the cockpit runway alert system, pilots would input the runway they are cleared to before they move the aircraft and the exact latitude and longitude of the runway stored in the flight management computer’s database would be compared with navigational inputs such as GPS signals that the aircraft receives.

3. With the Boeing designed warning system, if the throttles are increased to where 60%-70% of the engines speed is reached and the sensed position of the aircraft doesn’t meet the flight management computer’s database position for the runway, then a loud horn sounds that alerts the pilots to abort the takeoff until they resolve the situation.

B. The reason the cockpit runway alert system is the best way to alleviate this problem is because it takes a lot of the human error out of the situation.

1. The other two major NTSB recommendations involved controller’s giving clearances and pilots using moving maps to get to the appropriate runway.

2. The cockpit runway alert system would warn pilots even if there isn’t any human interaction with the system before takeoff.

C. I would urge everyone here to contact James Oberstar the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee to consider urging the FAA to implement a rule that requires Part121 airlines to implement cockpit runway alert systems.

1. The address is: Chairman James Oberstar
2165 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-4472 Fax: (202) 226-1270

2. You could also contact your local congressman.

Review Statement and Closing:

Review Statement: In this presentation I described the problem of aircraft taking off on the wrong runways, I described an aircraft runway alert system that could keep similar accidents from happening in the future and some ways that you all can help implement this system in the airliners you travel on.

Closing: Keith Madison was a friend of Comair 5191 victim Jon Hooker. Madison had this to say about Hooker and his fiancé dying in the accident on the way to their honeymoon, “It’s so tragic because he was so happy last night. It’s just an incredible turn of events. It’s really painful.” Don’t let a tragedy like this happen again. Let our government know that we demand safe air travel.



Works Cited
"Bombardier CRJ200 Specifications." 31 Oct. 2007 http://www.crj.bombardier.com/CRJ/en/specifications.jsp?langId=en&crjId=200.

"Comair 5191 Summary." NTSB. 31 Oct. 2007 http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20060828X01244&ntsbno=DCA06MA064&akey=1.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. 1 Nov. 2007 http://transportation.house.gov/.

"KLEX Airport Diagram." AOPA. 31 Oct. 2007 http://www.aopa.org/members/airports/detail.cfm?airportid=12343.

"Plane Crash Kills 49; Crew Member is Only Survivor." Fox News. 27 Aug. 2006. 31 Oct. 2007 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210650,00.html.

"Wrong Runway Alert System and Method." Patent Storm. 02 Sept. 2003. 1 Nov. 2007 http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6614397.html.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I liked the speech today John. Good delivery and well structured speech.