A Call for Runway Incursion Incident Reports Occurring at Nontowered and Tower-Closed Airports

If you have recently experienced a runway incursion event at a non-Towered or Tower-closed (after hours) airport, tell NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) about it. You can help support an FAA effort to reduce the frequency and danger of these events.

For the purposes of this study, a runway incursion is an inappropriate crossing of a runway hold line, and/or entry onto an active or occupied runway, whether or not a loss of separation with another aircraft occurs.

At the request of the FAA, the ASRS will be conducting detailed telephone interviews (called "structured callbacks") with pilots who report runway incursion incidents to the ASRS. Reporter participation is voluntary, and all identifying information (names, company affiliations, etc.) will be removed before ASRS research data are given to the FAA. The ASRS callback effort will begin in November 2000. Based on your reports, the FAA will use the information to evaluate runway incursion issues at non-Towered and Tower-closed airports.

Here's how the structured callback works:

You report a runway incursion incident to the ASRS, using a standard NASA/ASRS form ("General Form," NASA ARC 277B) available from the ASRS website at http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov, from your company, from a Flight Service Station, or you may the call ASRS office at (650) 969-3969 to request a form.
After ASRS receives your report, a member of the ASRS analyst staff will contact you at the phone number given on your reporting form identification strip, and ask whether you're willing to participate in a telephone questionnaire about the incident. If you are, the analyst will make an appointment to call you back at a convenient time.
The interview itself will take approximately 45 minutes. If there are questions you are unable to answer, the interviewer will skip these.

Many pilots who have participated in past ASRS structured callback efforts have found this experience interesting and rewarding. In addition to supplying important research information that might not be included in a written ASRS report, the interview process provides a unique way for pilots to help improve the system and give something back to aviation.

So, if you are a pilot who has experienced a runway incursion encounter at an airport without a Tower or when the Tower was closed (after hours), ASRS is waiting to hear your story.