Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House addresses near-miss aircraft incidents.
The Safe Landings Act is in response to a July 2017 incident at San Francisco International Airport in which an Air Canada flight came dangerously close to landing on a taxiway occupied by four other aircraft.
“In recent years, runway incursions in the U.S. increased by nearly 83 percent,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), who introduced the bill, said. “With near-misses on the rise, we need to act now to ensure that those incidents do not turn into accidents and that our aviation system remains the safest in the world. With two years of research and expert input on multiple near-miss incidents, the product is what the flying public deserves.”
The act would require the Federal Aviation Administration to implement systems that will alert pilots and air traffic controllers when a plane is not properly aligned to land on a runway and to gather data and report what circumstances airlines require pilots to back up visual approaches and issue guidance on the most effective techniques.
The act also creates a task force to review and provide recommendations, urges the Government Accountability Office to study the concerns some pilots have with cockpit voice recorders and requires the “notices to airmen” system to be harmonized with International Civil Aviation Organization standards.