Rise in Collision Hazards for Planes Spurs Changes

By ANDY PASZTOR

Concerned about a rise in midair-collision hazards facing jetliners on both sides of the Atlantic, regulators, air-traffic controllers and aviation-parts suppliers are devising new procedures and systems to reduce such dangers.

Midair conflicts between planes in the U.S. have been most frequent in California and the Northeast, with the number of serious incidents in some of those areas nearly doubling since 2007, according to controllers. Just this week, a controller mistake put a Southwest Airlines jet and an Alaska Airlines jet on a collision course while both planes were maneuvering to land in San Diego. Onboard collision warning devices ordered the pilots to take evasive action, and both aircraft landed safely.

Safety experts believe that growth in air traffic is a major cause in the rise of midair hazards, but mistakes by air traffic controllers and other factors also contribute. The FAA doesn't keep detailed statistics on midair conflicts averted by onboard warnings. But an agency spokeswoman said Thursday that the overall number of serious controller errors nationwide rose to 357 in fiscal 2008 from 289 the previous year. In Southern California, controllers said there have been six serious midair incidents in the past year

An FAA spokeswoman said the agency takes midair-collision hazards "very seriously and is doing everything in its power to eliminate the risk."

To reduce midair threats in busy U.S. airspace, controllers at many of the largest air-traffic centers nationwide now routinely keep certain aircraft farther apart than they did barely a year ago. The goal, according to controllers, is to provide an extra cushion of separation between planes -- particularly jetliners relying on instruments and pilots of smaller private aircraft using visual flight rules.

"We have reacted to the increased number" of onboard collision-avoidance warnings in recent months "by increasing the vertical separation between aircraft," said Melvin Davis, a spokesman for the controller's union.

As part of broader U.S. air-traffic control improvements, the Federal Aviation Administration is in the process of upgrading software at more than a dozen existing radar facilities so the agency will be able to better identify and analyze close calls when they occur. And aircraft suppliers such as Honeywell International Inc. are voluntarily developing new software to enhance the performance of the onboard collision warning devices they manufacture.

In Europe, where some safety experts believe as many as eight serious midair near-collisions have occurred over the past five years, politicians and regulators are looking to mandate such software changes. Plane-maker Airbus has agreed to preliminary plans to start installing them on aircraft coming out of the factory by mid-2009. It's not clear how soon Boeing Co. would incorporate the changes in its production lines.

Most hazards associated with midair collisions were supposed to have been resolved years ago, after the latest-generation warning devices were installed on all commercial jets and smaller planes flying in controlled airspace. But the issue flared up publicly at an international safety conference in Florida in June, when a representative of European airlines said preliminary data indicated dramatic spikes in anti-collision warnings around international airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Newark and elsewhere. The complaints prompted regulators and industry to take a closer look, but an FAA-sponsored study is still under way. The agency declined to comment.

In a letter to Canadian air-safety officials in late August, Vincent de Vroey, a top official with the Association of European Airlines, said "senior FAA management has now acknowledged potential safety concerns related to" escalating anti-collision warnings. The letter also said FAA and industry experts launched "a comprehensive study" to "analyze the problems and to propose recommendations to mitigate" safety concerns.

The safety debate comes at a time when FAA critics in Congress and elsewhere argue that the overall number of operational errors by U.S. controllers is climbing dramatically. In Southern and Northern California alone, according to unofficial figures provided by controllers, the total number of mistakes by controllers has doubled over the past year. The Southern California total rose to nearly 40 errors, though annual comparisons are difficult because the FAA earlier this year changed the way it categorizes controller slipups.

For example, in March, an American Airlines Boeing 757 arriving into Southern California from Mexico and a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 taking off from John Wayne International Airport in Orange County were mistakenly put on a collision course by controllers over the Pacific Ocean. Three months later a wide-body jetliner flown by Air Tahiti, climbing past 10,000 feet after departing Los Angeles, had a close call with a twin-propeller aircraft following visual flight rules. In both instances, onboard warnings alerted pilots to take evasive action before controllers discovered the errors.

Other parts of the country have shown year-over year increases of roughly 30%, according to controllers. The totals include midair close calls as well as close calls between planes moving on the ground.

With the FAA and the controller's union locked in a bitter labor-management battle over wages and working conditions, controversy over controller fatigue and staffing levels is bound to confront the incoming Administration.

Despite the heightened focus on midair hazards, no big U.S. passenger jet has been involved in a midair collision since 1978. And no major midair collision has occurred in U.S. airspace since the late 1980s. But foreign carriers have had at least three major midair crashes since then, including a July 2002 collision over Germany between a DHL cargo aircraft and a Bashkirian Airlines jet, which killed dozens of children aboard the passenger plane.

Investigators determined that the pilots of the Russian-built Tupolev 154 failed to properly follow warnings from onboard collision-avoidance systems. The crash over Germany sparked controversy over how to improve the safety of air-traffic control management in Europe, and also prompted efforts to improve onboard warning devices.

In September 2006, a Boeing 737 passenger jet operated by the Brazilian carrier, Gol Transportes Aereos, crashed after colliding with a business jet over the Amazon, killing all 154 people aboard. Investigators determined that the collision-avoidance system of the smaller jet wasn't operating.

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