Abstract

In fiscal year (FY) 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Airports (ARP) initiated a research study to identify and geographically locate areas at airports with nonstandard taxiway geometry. This research was advanced because an earlier study (Legarreta, 2012) had shown nonstandard taxiway geometries to be associated with a higher prevalence of runway incursions. The FAA defines a runway incursion (RI) as “any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and takeoff of aircraft” (FAA, 2015).

These occurrences include wrong runway landings and takeoffs. This research effort developed a geographic information system (GIS) database of approximately 520 airports with civilian air traffic control towers. For each airport, the location of nonstandard geometries, runway incursions, airfield hotspot areas, airport diagrams, and other airport-related information is identified. This research study identified 140 airfield locations with high incidences of RIs using data from October 1, 2007, to September 30, 2013. As a result, a 15- to 20-year improvement program, known as the Runway Incursion Mitigation (RIM) program, launched in FY2015. The goal of the program was to mitigate airfield locations with high incidences of RIs. A subset of the 140 locations identified was then validated for inclusion in the RIM program and prioritized for mitigation.

The RIM program is updated annually using the GIS airport database to identify construction-related changes to airfield layout and their impacts on taxiway geometries, the airfield location of new RIs, and the status of airfield locations prioritized for mitigation.

This report summarizes the status of the RIM program through FY2023. In 2023, the program georeferenced 1,330 RIs; added 62 nonstandard geometry locations; prioritized 16 locations for mitigation; and identified 13 locations as mitigated. Since the program’s initiation, 16,521 RIs have been georeferenced at airports along with more than 6,695 nonstandard geometry locations. In addition, 230 airfield locations were prioritized for mitigation, and 100 of these locations have been mitigated. For mitigated locations and incursion data through calendar year 2022, the incursion rate has been reduced by 69 percent.