An Analysis of Pilot Deviations in Runway Incidents

This article presents the results of an analysis of interview information from pilots who had filed a report with the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) about their involvement in a runway incident. Causal factors for 75 runway incidents were investigated and were grouped into five categories in order of the frequency of their occurrence: personnel, communication, memory, operations, and orientation. Personnel factors, such as pilot performance and workload, were a causal factor in 92% of the events investigated. Communication factors were involved in 73% of the events investigated with a lack of verbal coordination of air traffic control (ATC) instructions between crew members and misinterpretation of ATC instructions by crew members being the predominant components. The article provides a detailed analysis of the five causal categories and the individual factors within each and describes how they were manifested in selected incidents in which they were involved. Also included are recommendations that could help prevent future runway incidents.