Environmental issues and security Safeguarding the

Transcript:Environmental issues and security Safeguarding the:
Environmental issues and security Safeguarding the Airport As the primary transport infrastructure assets in their respective regions, airports must be designed, managed, and operated with maximum protection against diverse and unforeseen hazard emergency circumstances. A well-planned and designed airport may be subjected to exogenous factors that engineers would never anticipate. Airport developers and engineers could prepare a certain situational awareness framework that could be useful in minimizing adverse effects on the airport of such unforeseen situations—it would provide the first line of defense to safeguard the airport. So, what are the elements of this safeguarding framework? Three major parts to an airport safeguarding framework come to the forefront: safeguarding the airport airspace and airfield and enabling optimal safety awareness, securing the airport’s public areas against unlawful interference, and responding to emergencies of all kinds. Nature of Aircraft Accidents It is helpful for airport engineers to know where, when, and how aircraft accidents occur. Aircraft accident statistics indicate that only 5% of accidents occur en route. These are caused typically by structural fatigue, electromechanical failure, violent weather, hitting the ground (controlled flight into terrain, CFIT), or hitting obstructions close to the airport. Another 15% of accidents occur in the proximity (within 15 miles) of the airport arrival or departure areas. These accidents may be caused by weather, engine failure, or collision with another plane. These accidents are of primary concern to community emergency services around airports, and emergency response to these accidents are typically done with airports’ emergency services under a mutual aid agreements as discussed later for airport emergency plans. Nature of Aircraft Accidents The remaining 80% of recent accidents occur within the airport active movement areas (i.e., runways, taxiways, and aircraft parking areas), an area 500 ft of the active runway centerline and 3000 ft of its threshold—the critical rescue and fire-fighting response area. It is where human lives get lost or aircraft are damaged in accidents due to unnecessary obstructions and unfortunate crashes. It is here where airport design could be improved and can be more safety conscious and most effective. Measures related to removing any obstruction hazards from runway approach areas would prevent potential damage to aircraft in runway incursion incidents Categorization of aircraft incidents Airport emergency managers categorize aircraft incidents on airports into: Undershoots. Constituting 40% of all incidents, where landing aircraft contact the ground or some elevated obstructions prior to the runway threshold. Due to