“Canadian airports need to take actions before Transport Canada” – Kathy Fox. Why Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada Warned Airport Operators? 150 m or 300 m?
Has your airport implemented Runway End Safety Area (RESA) standards? In a short period, an airport operator might need to make a decision to meet either Transport Canada regulatory requirements or the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and recommendations.
At its annual Facility Operations Airport Managers (FOAM) Conference held on May 5-8, in Montreal, QC., Kathy Fox, Chair, TSB of Canada, highlighted that “Transport Canada must adopt at least the ICAO standards and recommendations for RESA” during her presentation on TSB Update and Watchlist. In addition, she strongly worded that “Airports need to take actions before Transport Canada”.
According to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada, since 2013, on average 9 overrun accidents and incidents occur annually. TSB Watchlist 2018 was published in October 2018; the agency notified that runway overruns and runway incursions is one of the seven issues in Canada’s transportation system.
Global Runway Safety Action Plan by ICAO has published the top contributing factors for runway excursions and runway incursions in order to assist airports taking the right decisions. Ultimately, TC aims to set the new regulations by 2020, where 24 Canadian airports will need to have 300 m RESAs on their major runways. Currently, TP312 5th edition requires that Canadian major airports must have a minimum length of 150 m RESA. This will make a double work for airports at a time when TC releases the new requirement for RESA, and the result could be increased infrastructure cost.
TSB also states that some major airports have voluntarily implemented ICAO’s recommendations which is 300 m RESA and have already exceeding current TP312 requirements. Because of the complexity of the implementation of aviation standards and multiple stages of approval, instead of implementing 150 m RESA, these major airports will need to implement ICAO’s recommendations.
Implementing 300 m RESA is not the only solution to mitigate the hazards of overruns. It is more complicated for the airports who existed prior to the adoption of RESA standards. Transport Canada released Advisory Circular (AC) No.300-007 – Engineered Materials Arresting Systems for Aircraft Overruns, presents an innovative solution to design and installation of the Engineered Materials Arresting Systems (EMAS) that is intended to stop an aircraft overrunning and funded by the Regional Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) office.
AVCON.WW is committed to helping airports conduct risk assessments and implement effective safety management systems. Compliance with the latest regulations, standards and recommendations in a controlled economically sound manner will allow airports to build and maintain safer operations.
For more information please contact me at [email protected] or on our website www.avconww.com.