The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently cautioned flight crews and operators against careless data entry and informed them of the disastrous consequences of transposing runway numbers.
In a Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) released earlier this month, the FAA cited a 2017 event at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), wherein an air carrier provided inaccurate data to an airliner readying for departure. While the plane took off from Runway 10L, the actual departure was to be conducted from Runway 01L. The error resulted in an airliner taking off from a runway that was 4,220 feet less than what was calculated for its takeoff.
“The flight crew realized the safety implication and associated risks and promptly submitted a voluntary safety report describing the event under the aviation safety action program (ASAP),” SAFO said.
After reviewing data from its ASAP and flight quality assurance program, that carrier found that less serious errors had occurred before the 2017 event and implemented strategies to mitigate the problem and avoid reoccurrence.
The SAFO noted that this as a potential systemic issue in the National Airspace System at large. At SFO alone, there have been an additional 25 takeoffs with less than 1,000 feet remaining on the runway, likely due to similar transposition events.