for clarity
Ignition override,
In saying that nothing new is being mentioned, I thought it would be obvious I was talking about what this thread is about, “Tenerife. March, 27th, 1977”. What you are talking about is at best the third cousin, twice removed of what was causal to Tenerife. This accident has to be placed in its time and context. And what I wrote is, that this has occurred in spades during the past thirty years, it is all out there, and certainly doesn’t qualify as “news”.
The technology you are talking about wasn’t around at the time, and its development isn’t directly related to this accident (new thread maybe?). Our industry certainly has problems with runway incursions, and loss of situational awareness. The layout of some of the biggest airports in the USA make them very prone to these types of incidents. And most of these airports are operating at the outer reaches of their capacity. It is good that technology is ready or in the pipeline to take on this dangerous issue.
In Europe ground based radar at the major airport hubs is widespread. And Europe has much more experience with low visibility procedures. Signs are better and clearer at its major hubs. Lighting is of a much higher quality. CAT 3 is an absolute rarity in the USA. And I haven’t ever seen the no decision height (CATIIIb no DH) variant anywhere in the USA (might be there). It is common place over here.
Btw I fly the B777 with a full Class 3 EFB (Electronic Flight Bag), which has most of the technology that you mentioned (among them a moving airport map display). Our whole fleet from large to small is being prepared for retrofit (although it will take years to complete). So not everyone feels it is cost prohibitive.
I hope this post is clearer.
Greetings O.
Last edited by Otterman; 4th Apr 2007 at 09:32.