Aviation Fact Sheet #4. Assesses what's known about air travel and ground safety and focuses largely on O'Hare International Airport.
By Guest Author- June 1, 1996
AIR TRAVEL SAFETY
The safety of air travel, both on the ground and in the air, is serious concern for travelers, airline and airport employees, and residents/businesses located adjacent to airports. Even the perception of unsafe conditions can have a marked impact on airline travel. The decline in air travel, particularly international travel, following the bombing of Pan Am's flight over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 by political extremists is an instructive example of how safety concerns affect travel behavior. A public opinion poll conducted after the Lockerbie incident found that "63 percent of the American public had lost confidence in the safety of airline travel".[1] Similarly, fear of terrorist actions during the U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf of 1991 had a chilling effect on air travel. Since the traveling public can be so easily affected by news of unsafe conditions, the safety of air travel and airports must be examined responsibly.
This MPC fact sheet was being finalized at the time of the tragic crash of the ValueJet airplane in the Florida Everglades. The investigation into the cause of the ValueJet airliner crash has not concluded, but there are substantial new questions being raised about the safety of airline travel and cargo standards and airline inspection systems in place to protect the traveling public. A recent Chicago Tribune editorial observed that the ValueJet airliner crash "has revived the concern that dates from the start of airline deregulation: Is cheep, efficient, commercial air travel consistent with safe commercial air travel?" The editorial concludes that airline fatalities per passenger-mile continue to decline, and "air travel remains far and away the safest form of transportation."[2]
In a recent analysis of the airline industry since its 1978 de-regulation, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) assessed the industry's safety record. The TRB concludes that there are many "aspects of the system [that] work together in a complex way to produce a remarkably safe mode of travel." Specific components of the safety system include: airplane separation standards; pilot training and certification procedures; aircraft safety features; aircraft performance tracking; and federally-required maintenance procedures. Safety-related incidents, the TRB reports, "usually occur because of a breakdown of more than [one] part of the system."[3]
Air travel safety remains highly regulated by the federal government. Assuring safety in the air is a key responsibility of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation (promotion of aviation is an equally important role). Accident investigation and safety research is conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board. The recent crash of the ValuJet airliner has renewed public debate about the appropriateness of charging the FAA with the conflicting roles as aviation's promoter and its safety monitor.
Despite public concerns about the safety of airline travel and the performance of the FAA, air travel is in fact much safer than other travel modes. During the 1980s, while an average of 121 people died annually in accidents involving scheduled airline service (large commercial carrier and commuter services), an average of 24,500 people perished annually in passenger car or taxi accidents.[4]
The National Safety Council compares the fatality rates of various transportation modes, and air travel still fares quite well when compared to other travel modes. For example, in 1992, the rate of death per 100 million passenger-miles for air travel was .01, compared to .02 for both buses and railroad passenger trains, and .89 for automobile and taxi travel.[5] According to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation Federico Pena, "the major airlines are more than 30 times safer than traveling on our interstates."[6]
Air travel accident rates for the major commercial air carriers remain very low, and the trend since 1978 has been fairly stable. Commuter air carrier accident rates are higher than that of the major airlines, but commuter carrier accident rates have been declining. The TRB attributes improvement in commuter carrier accident rates to the safer operating characteristics of commuter aircraft and increased standards of safety that have been applied to commuter airline travel since de-regulation of the industry. A ten-year trend in accident rates for the major commercial carriers collectively is summarized in figure 1.
CHICAGO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
Commercial air travel, both in the air and on the ground, is facilitated by the FAA through the air traffic control system. The prevention of collision is the primary goal of the air traffic control system, which is a complicated, multi-tiered management system of the nation's air space and the ground travel network used by airplanes.[7] The nation's air traffic control system has experienced a number of failures in recent years that can be largely attributed to: outdated computer equipment; power outages; telecommunications equipment breakdowns; and a shortage of skilled air traffic control personnel assigned to the busiest air traffic control centers.
Over the past decade, the deteriorating and outdated condition of the computer systems that are the backbone of the nation's air traffic control system have become a primary concern of the airlines and the FAA. Computer equipment in most air traffic control facilities is now thirty years old. The FAA is now investing in a comprehensive upgrade of the air traffic control system that will combine with recent enhancements to cockpit technologies to significantly enhance air traffic capacity and safety.
An ambitious capacity-increasing technology program, launched in the early 1980s and initially referred to as the "National Airspace System Plan", was revamped by FAA Administrator David Hinson in the early 1990s to focus on the more realistic goal of upgrading computer hardware and software by 1999. Because of incidences of computer system failures during the early 1990s, the FAA has now agreed to temporarily upgrade the computer systems at selected air traffic control facilities, including Chicago, by 1997. This system will function until 1999 when the sophisticated, new computer system allowing access to the U.S. Defense Department's "global positioning system" or GPS is expected to be operational system wide.[8] Experts predict that GPS will enhance air travel safety by replacing the current system of tracking airplanes through ground-based navigation with satellite-based data transmissions — allowing air traffic controllers to more precisely track airplanes.
The Chicago air traffic control system has experienced more than its share of crises stemming from obsolete equipment. Widely-reported computer systems and power failures at the Chicago Air Traffic Control Center have resulted in increasing incidences of delayed aircraft in recent years, but the FAA maintains that safety to the traveling public has not been compromised as a sophisticated set of back-up procedures exists to manage air traffic during crises.[9]
According to the FAA, the Chicago Air Traffic Control Center will be the first in the country to receive the temporary computer upgrade to its air traffic control equipment in early 1997. In addition, the FAA has also been working, with limited success, to attract more veteran air traffic controllers to the Chicago Center to strengthen the human expertise available to handle air traffic control needs under all circumstances.[10] Recently, both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Government Accounting Office confirmed that the FAA's approach to the air traffic control system's equipment problems is the right approach.[11]
In the event of an airline emergency landing or a catastrophe, the capability of the ground rescue operation is an important factor. O'Hare ground rescue capability is reported to be superior to other comparable domestic airports largely because of the availability of rescue personnel on-site, including the Chicago Fire Department. "Response time" is the key to survival for emergency landings and is one of the best indicators of an airport's emergency capability; O'Hare emergency response time is reported to be one of the lowest of all airports.
Finally, the topic of airplane safety is most critical to those that are responsible for safely flying millions of airline passengers annually - the pilots. Pilots of airlines that use O'Hare have consistently testified to the safety of airline operations at O'Hare. Most recently, a United Airlines pilot representing the United Airlines Pilots' Executive Council, testified to an Illinois House Committee that "O'Hare is one of the safest airports in the world" and "if that ever changes, the pilots will let [the legislators] know."[12]
O'HARE AIRPORT SECURITY
Responsibility for ground safety at O'Hare Airport is shared by the FAA with the City of Chicago Department of Aviation. Security at airports has become increasingly sophisticated as the threat of terrorism and other incidences have caused airports to purchase technologies and adopt procedures to enhance the safety of the traveling public. The FAA adjusts security requirements for passenger, baggage and cargo to respond to information provided by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Security requirements for travelers and cargo have been tightened in recent years largely because of terrorist activity at non-airport sites and reports from security intelligence sources. Since the Fall of 1995, airports have been operating under "Level 3" security requirements (level four is the highest possible level).
At airports throughout the world, the threat of terrorism has forced airports to adopt thorough passenger, baggage and cargo inspection procedures. In the U.S., the FAA set standards for U.S. domestic travel that provide a basic level of check-in and inspection procedures, but airports have the flexibility to apply additional security measures.
As the world's busiest airport, with significant international travel and considerable freight movement, O'Hare requires the highest level of security commitments. Airport management and the airlines have made significant investments in security equipment, personnel and procedures to assure public and employee safety. Some of the major security features of O'Hare Airport are summarized here.
A significant feature of the O'Hare security system is the Communications and Command Center, a state-of-the-art, centralized communications system for responding to major airport incidences that can integrate fire, police and emergency medical response services. A crisis management center is located adjacent to the Communications/Command Center, allowing airport and security personnel to respond swiftly and cohesively in the rare event of a major airport catastrophe.
Three levels of highly-trained security professionals operate at O'Hare Airport. The Chicago Police Department is the designated law enforcement agent for the airport. O'Hare is one of few airports that has a police unit based right at the airport. Airport security is also provided by another level of highly-trained personnel, the Airport Security/Access Control Officers, who are responsible for airfield and terminal security. Yet another level of security is provided by officers responsible primarily for baggage inspection and parking area security.
While it is difficult to measure the level of safety at airport facilities, it is possible to assess the level of security by comparing how well the safety systems match up to the character of the airport. A large and busy airport, such as O'Hare, which operates in a dense urban environment and has a significant amount of cargo movement and international passenger travel warrants state-of-the-art systems and procedures for assuring passenger terminal and travel safety. Our review of these airport systems and procedures, based largely on interviews with airport, airline and other industry representatives, indicates that the safety systems that are in place at O'Hare Airport are among the most sophisticated of all U.S. airports.
CONCLUSIONS
Passenger safety is of the highest priority to the federal government, private airlines and the agencies that manage security at airports throughout the country, and travel by air remains one of the safest ways to travel. Safety standards and procedures exist to assure the in-flight and ground safety of travelers, airline and airport employees, and residents and businesses located adjacent to airports.
Increased flight operations at O'Hare have had no observable impact on the safety of flying in the Chicago region. If too many planes desire to land or depart at the same time, some of these planes will simply be delayed, which assures the continued safety of airplane operations. The Chicago region's air traffic control capability is of far more critical concern. The FAA's strategy for upgrading the air traffic control system and recruiting additional air traffic control and technical support personnel is critical to addressing this need.
In the near term, technological enhancements are expected to permit the safe accommodation of additional flights at existing facilities — if additional flights are desired by local decision makers. Over the longer term, if demand for aviation travel grows as projected by the FAA, new and expanded aviation facilities will likely be needed to safely accommodate the growth in air travel. Since growth in airliner operations must safely be integrated into the existing air traffic control system, the impact on existing airplane operations is a critical factor affecting the decision to locate additional aviation capacity.
All of the aviation studies conducted for the Chicago region have carefully assessed the impact of increased airplane operations associated with a new or expanded airport on the continued safe airline operations at existing facilities. The Aurora, Rockford and Gary airports were dropped from consideration as third airport sites partially because of the conflict with O'Hare and/or Midway operations (although closure of Midway was a possibility when the City of Chicago recommended the Lake Calumet site for airport development). Milwaukee's airport and the green grass sites in the south suburban Chicago region provide less conflict to existing commercial airliner operations assuming the continuation of operations at both O'Hare and Midway Airports.
Safety and the perception of safety are so important to air travelers, airline and airport employees and airport neighbors that any discussion about safety at existing or proposed new airports must be based on the facts. Considerable systems are in place to assure the safety of air travel, and additional safety investments in the air travel system will be made to the extent that Congress and the traveling public are willing to pay for them. If and when additional air travel capacity is developed for the region at existing or potential new airports, it will not be implemented without assuring the safety of existing airliner operations.
1. "Winds of Change: Domestic Air Transport Since Deregulation", Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Special Report 230, 1991.
2. "Air travel: Still the safest way to go", Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1996.
3. "Winds of Change: Domestic Air Transport Since Deregulation", Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Special Report 230, 1991.
4. "Accident Facts", National Safety Council, 1994.
5. Ibid..
6. "Pena Calls Summit on Airline Safety", Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 2, 1995.
7. For a concise background on the air traffic control system, see "Paying for Highways, Airways, and Waterways: How Can Users Be Charged?" by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, May 1992.
8. FAA Press Release, "FAA Announces Decision to Replace Aging Air Traffic Control Computers", August 1, 1995.
9. "FAA's Radar Going Under Microscope", Chicago Tribune, September 26, 1995.
10. Ibid..
11. "Air Traffic Control is Safe, Agencies Report", Chicago Tribune, September 8, 1995.
12. Statement of Captain Jamie Lindsey, representing the United Airlines Pilots' Master Executive Council at a hearing held by the Illinois General Assembly Executive Committee on March 2, 1995.