Rain Blamed For JFK Failure

That $90 million runway collision avoidance system installed in 34 airports around the US has one big drawback: It doesn't work in moderate- to heavy-rain.

So say air traffic controllers after an Airborne Express DC-8 almost collided with an Israir 767 on the runway at New York's big airport earlier this month. The DC-8 was taking off when the Israir plane blundered onto Runway 22R in violation of a hold order from the tower.

"Somebody's crossing the runway," exclaimed the DC-8 pilot as he was on his take-off roll, according to NATCA's Barrett Byrnes. He was quoted by New York Newsday.

"Somebody's taking off!" shouted the Israir pilot into his radio, according to Byrnes. Neither pilot heard the other, though, because they were on different frequencies.

The FAA report on that incident says the DC-8 cleared the 767 by a mere 75-feet.

Where was the anti-collision radar? Switched to stand-by, Byrnes said, because in even moderate rain, it's terribly prone to false alarms. At this point, Newsday reports, the FAA has no plans to change or improve the system.

But even when it works, the NTSB is worried that it simply isn't fast enough to avert a potential disaster. Safety board members continue pushing the FAA to institute a runway collision avoidance system that talks directly to pilots, instead of talking to controllers who then talk to the pilots themselves. By the time that whole process is complete, the NTSB warns, it might be too late.

FMI: www.faa.gov