WEBVTT

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GEOFF BENNETT: U.S.
airports have seen an
uptick in near-collisions
involving commercial planes,

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a problem prompting the
FAA to call for a safety
summit, launching a review of

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safety standards and
procedures, with the goal
of preventing catastrophe.

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At airports across the country,
one close call after another,

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the latest just outside
Washington, D.C., at
Reagan National Airport
earlier this month,

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when a Republic Airways plane
took a wrong turn, crossing
the path of a United Airlines

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jet just as it was about to
take off, prompting alarm
at air traffic control.

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CONTROLLER: United 2003,
cancel takeoff clearance!

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UNITED PILOT: Aborting
takeoff, aborting.

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GEOFF BENNETT:

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Six other recent near-misses
are now being investigated
by the federal government,

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including at New York's
JFK, when an American
Airlines plane crossed

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the runway as a Delta
flight was taking off, in
Honolulu, when a United flight

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crossed the runway as a
cargo plane was about to
land, and, in Austin, Texas,

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when two planes came
within 100 feet of each
other as one was landing
and the other taking off.

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Last month, senators
pressed acting FAA

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Administrator Billy Nolen on
the spate of near-collisions.

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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): What
can we do to make sure
that doesn't happen again?

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BILLY NOLEN, Acting
Administrator, Federal
Aviation Administration: It

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is not what we would
expect to have happened.

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But, when we think about the
controllers, how we train both
our controllers and our pilots,

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the system works as it
is designed to avert
what you say could have
been a horrific outcome.

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GEOFF BENNETT: And, this
week, the FAA convened
a safety summit with

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aviation leaders and
labor groups to figure out
where the problems lie.

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PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S.
Secretary of Transportation:
We are particularly
concerned because we

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have seen an uptick in
serious close calls that
we must address together.

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GEOFF BENNETT: And aviation
correspondent Miles
O'Brien joins us now.

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So, Miles, can we say
for certain whether the
number of near-collisions

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is on the rise? Or is
it possible we're just
paying more attention?

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MILES O'BRIEN: Well, we
certainly are paying more
attention, aren't we,

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Geoff? And that's a good
thing for all of us,
because that ultimately
is what leads to safety.

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Just because we don't have
an accident doesn't imply
we have safety. So we

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have to be aggressive
about these things.
Looking at the numbers,

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the FAA classifies these
by severity. The top two
most severe incidents are

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incidents where a near-collision
almost happened or there
was a potential for one.

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If you look back for -- over
airline operations since about
2016, there have been a handful

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of these per year of the top
two categories. And then the
most severe one, the one that is

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narrowly missed a collision,
there have been only
three over the past five
years and none in 2022.

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So the fact that we're dealing
with a half-dozen or more in the

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first quarter of 2023
indicates something
truly is going on here.

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GEOFF BENNETT: What are some of
the factors that officials will

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be looking into as they delve
into these investigations?

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MILES O'BRIEN: Well, one
of the things they will be
looking at is the aviation
industry post-COVID.

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In the midst of the pandemic,
there were lots of retirements,
lots of layoffs. And as the

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flying public has returned
to the skies, almost
with a vengeance, we
have a lot of new people,

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both in the cockpits, in
the cabins, in the air
traffic control tower
cabs, and, for that matter,

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the people driving the
vehicles that push and pull the
airplanes and service them.

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So we have kind of a
juniorocracy of going
on there, which is not
good. Now, on top of that,

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there been a lot of
distractions. In January,
we had that massive
computer meltdown,

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which shut down the system for
quite a while. We have repeated
cases of unruly passengers,

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problems on board these
aircraft. There have been
concerns about 5G cellular

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communications interfering
with the navigation.

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And so you have a system that
is stressed and maybe doesn't

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have the most experienced people
dealing with it at the moment.

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GEOFF BENNETT: We should point
out, though, that the FAA
says that air travel is safe.

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The American aviation
system hasn't had a fatal
airliner crash in nearly
a decade. Still, Miles,

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what can be done to improve the
situational awareness for pilots
and air traffic controllers?

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MILES O'BRIEN: Well, the FAA has
tried to make this a focus. And

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they have done things
like change the way they
mark the runways and

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the taxiways. There are
flashing lights indicating
where an active runway may be.

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The charts which we receive
as pilots indicate so-called
hot spots at airports

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where there is difficulty. A
couple of airports, Atlanta
and Dallas/Fort Worth,

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have built these concrete
so-called end-around
taxiways, which make it

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possible for airliners to get
to where they're going without
crossing an active runway.

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That obviously creates a much
safer situation. But the one
they just built in Atlanta,

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which just opened recently,
cost $81 million. And not every
airport has that flexibility to

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do that. A place like Boston
Logan Airport, which has all
kinds of intersecting runways,

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doesn't have the turf to
build extra taxiway space.

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GEOFF BENNETT: To your point,
we have an aviation system
that has grown rapidly,

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but the number of runways in
airports has not. The last

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new major airport in this
country was opened in
1995, Denver International.

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Is it at all practical
to imagine building new
airports with safer runways?

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MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, it's
tough in this country.
Just think about China
for a moment. They plan

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to build 200 airports over
the next 15 years. That
would -- that would double

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the number of airports they
have. But they don't have a
messy democracy to contend with.

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It's difficult to start
bulldozing places to
create new airports and

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build new runways in
this country. There's all

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kinds of permitting process.
And there's a lot of neighbors
who don't like this idea.

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But we should point
out there are more than

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5,000 airports in the United
States, public use airports.
Some of them are pretty small,

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but there are quite a few
that are either military or
civilian which are large and

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underutilized. And if we
move some of the traffic
there, that might solve
some of this problem.

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But here's the dirty little
secret. The airlines don't
like this idea. They like

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their hub-and-spoke system, a
couple of dozen airports that
get a tremendous amount of

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traffic funneled into them.
And they don't necessarily
want to open up new airports,

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which opens up the possibility
of new competitors,
making it more difficult
for them to make a buck.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Aviation
correspondent Miles O'Brien.

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Miles, thanks so much.

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MILES O'BRIEN: You're
welcome, Geoff.