Who is responsible for the associated costs of an incident/accident?
So who pays if an aircraft departs a runway strip, regardless of width, and subsequently crashes into an obstacle; just outside the Obstacle Free Zone (OFZ)/Precision Obstacle Free Zone (POFZ), or just underneath the inner transitional surface, such as an airport shopping centre, petrol station, carpark and/or office building? Historically, much of the land immediately adjacent to runway strips was clear.
The potential cost of an aircraft overrun, runway excursion or forced landing, such as what occurred in Essendon on Monday, will be considerably greater when expensive airport infrastructure (aviation or non-aviation) is also involved. Should the aviation industry accept that the additional costs of the incident/accident be ‘absorbed’ by the general aviation company ‘responsible’, or potentially by airlines and/or ultimately, the airline’s insurers or underwriters? Will the airport operator and their respective insurers come to the party or contribute to covering these extra costs? This eventuality would be worth considering, or at least desk-topping, as it is only a matter of time.
Developing every skerrick of land within the confines of an airport boundary, immediately adjacent to critical runway and instrument approach infrastructure, is similar to developing all the road shoulders of the main access roads to our city’s major hospitals. It gradually negates the redundancy which was characteristic to the airport (or road) when it was first designed and constructed. So too, some types of airport development, for the sake of income/profit maximisation, limits options for pilots in the event of certain emergency situations. That is undeniable.
People of the greater community can drive to any number of supermarkets, malls, or even discount outlets (DFO) when they feel the need to shop. Conversely, a pilot when confronted with a complex emergency, especially during critical stages of flight (i.e. rotation, lift-off, final approach etc.) does not have the same luxury of time, the ability to just pull-over stop and think, or multiple options to put the aircraft back on the ground. Historically, Australian pilots could expect relatively generous clear areas within airport boundaries, in which they could recover a disabled aircraft.
Last edited by Datum; 25th Feb 2017 at 23:01.