Runway excursions are one of the most frequent and serious accident types in aviation, accounting for almost a quarter of all accidents, and reducing them is a major priority for the aviation industry as a whole.
With its deep experience in air traffic management, including managing operations at two major airports at Gatwick and Edinburgh, ANSL was pleased to lend its expertise to a global initiative on reducing runway excursions.
The Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Runway Excursions, or GAPPRE for short, has been developed over the last two years. This ‘from industry for industry’ initiative is made up of over 100 aviation professionals from more than 40 organisations divided into six working groups, led by Eurocontrol and the Flight Safety Foundation.
Damon Knight, ANSL’s Head of Safety, Security & Quality, joined the ANSP working group, bringing his experience of not only Gatwick and Edinburgh, but previously at Southend, with Belgocontrol in Brussels, and at NATS.
In the process of developing solutions, Damon consulted other experts within ANSL, and the operational teams at its customer airports, testing concepts and operational frameworks that could reduce runway excursions.
Damon’s working group contributed to a toolkit of best practice recommendations that GAPPRE developed, the first part of which is being published today.
The toolkit recommendations are designed to be implemented by airports, ATM teams, airlines, manufacturers and regulators, and have been reviewed and validated by EASA, IATA, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) and Airports Council International World.
ANSL is already working on incorporating a number of these recommendations into its operations at Gatwick and Edinburgh, ensuring that the industry best practice to which it contributes remains at the forefront of its approach to air traffic management.
Volume 1 of the GAPPRE is now available on the Flight Safety Foundation’s website