FAA Implements Program to Improve Air Traffic Safety

Los Angeles, CAA new program set up by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is designed to increase air traffic safety, but it is still unclear what impact this program will have on plane crashes. The FAA's now year-old program allows air traffic controllers to report hazards and incidents in exchange for immunity, although immunity is not guaranteed in serious incidents.

The goal of the program is to encourage more honest accounts of incidents at runways so the FAA can improve air traffic safety accordingly.

Many of the reports made to the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (ATSAP) are minor, according to the 4/5/20 edition of USA Today, but there have been some incidents that could have resulted in injury. In all, more than 14,000 reports have been made since the program began. Approximately 45 percent of those reports involved aircraft flying too close to each other or on unapproved routes.

"This is a way for us to get new sets of eyes and ears in a lot of places," Randy Babbitt, administrator of the FAA said of the program, as quoted by USA Today. "I think everybody agrees there will be a safer system in the long run."

There have been reports of planes coming to close to other planes, flying unapproved routes, flying too fast as they departed certain airports, making dangerous runway crossings and turning too close to other planes in the air.

Although major plane crashes are relatively rare, any improvement to air traffic safety is regarded as a good thing. Changes made as a result of the FAA's program include improving signage at runway intersections and fixing computer software. Most of the incidents reported to the FAA were fairly minor—but it does not take a lot for a minor incident to become a major one. Whether or not these safety procedures will have an impact on plane crash statistics remains to be seen.