The transport ministry proposed Monday that a new post for coordinating takeoffs and landings be established at the air traffic control of major airports, in the wake of a deadly aircraft collision on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport earlier this year.
The proposal was included in an interim report submitted by the ministry to an expert panel set up to discuss measures aimed at preventing aircraft from mistakenly entering runways
The report said that air traffic controllers in charge of runways are currently burdened by having to monitor runways, communicate with pilots and coordinate with other controllers. It said that a position exclusively for coordination should be created.
It also called for considering resuming the practice by air traffic control of indicating the order of takeoff by using phrases such as “number one” and “number two.”
Using the phrases has been suspended following the collision on fears pilots might mistakenly interpret them as permission to enter runways. But pilots say that the phrases are useful for understanding the situation of other aircraft.
Currently, air traffic controllers are alerted to mistaken aircraft intrusions into runways in use through a system in which the colors of the runways and aircraft in such situations change on radar screens. The report called for adding audio to the alert system, as well as having it issue warning displays and sounds in especially urgent situations.
The report was drawn up in response to a collision between a Japan Airlines passenger jet and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft on runway C at Haneda Airport on Jan. 2. All 379 passengers and crew members aboard the JAL plane escaped. But five members of the coast guard aircraft crew were killed and its captain was seriously injured.