Air Transport

Recent US runway incursion incidents include:

6 May 2007, Los Angeles International airport: a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600 carrying 172 passengers and crew and a SkyWest Airlines Embraer Brasilia with two pilots and no passengers came within 15m (50ft) laterally of colliding.

23 July 2006, Chicago O'Hare airport: the Atlas freighter crossed runway 27L after landing on 14R, but a United Airlines Boeing 737 had been cleared for take-off on 27L. The US Federal Aviation Administration says the 737 was able to take off, but overflew the larger aircraft. The US National Transportation Board estimates the aircraft came within 60-90m.

US Department of Transportation watchdog the Inspector General's Office (IGO) recently reported that runway incursion incident numbers had peaked in 2001, but following a drop in runway incursions in financial year 2002, the number and rate of runway incursions have remained steady, with some particularly dangerous events continuing to occur at four major international airports.

The agency says that in FY2005 and 2006, Boston Logan airport suffered 22 runway incursion incidents (one severe), Chicago O'Hare 15 incidents (five severe), Los Angeles International 16 (two severe) and Philadelphia 16 (one severe). The IGO says that specific local remedial actions are now in place at these airports, but were not adopted until after a serious runway incursion had occurred.