New York, NY –The latest report from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) www.dot.gov states 11 major airports in the U.S. fail to meet federal safety requirements that prevent planes from running off runways and slamming into passing cars. As reported by the Houston Chronicle, the federal inspector general for the Transportation Department says nearly 25 percent of airports remain seriously deficient, posing a threat to daily motor vehicle drivers and passengers.
Airports in violation include Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Washington. These facts are simply unknown to the hundreds of thousands of motorists traveling on highways and roads next to U.S. airport runways. Since 1997, 200 people have been injured and 12 have been killed by aircraft plowing off runways and into cars. This dangerous federal transportation safety violation became a nightmare in December 2005 when 6-year-old Joshua Woods was killed. An airplane rolled off Chicago’s Midway Airport and onto the adjacent roadway into his family car.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) states some airports don’t have the space to adhere to the federally mandated safety improvements that include a 1,000-foot long by 500-foot wide safety area. Airports are also required to add an additional 250-foot long buffer adjacent to the runway. Airports who do not have the space can install a concrete bed that is collapsible and can absorb the impact and slow down runaway planes. These have been implemented at JFK International Airport in New York and occupy 600 by 1,000 feet of space. The Flight Safety Foundation reports airplane crashes off runways are the most common aviation disasters and are responsible for almost one-third of all aviation accidents in the last dozen years.
